Going Undercover
by pyro18
Summary: Magneto comes up with a scheme to spy on Xavier's plans for the X Men by having the Brotherhood stay with them. The Brotherhood is reluctant to live with the X Men, but after a terrible fire leaves them homeless they have no choice. Mostly about Pietro.
1. Intro

If I get any reviews on this I'll update with the next chapter ASAP, cuz this chapter is kind of short. I don't own any of this except for the idea so yeah.

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It was a dreary night in Bayville, and the black clouds that had been looming in the grey sky were threatening to rain all day. Pietro pulled the hood of his black sweater over his head as icy raindrops fell to the ground all around him, starting of softly, but getting stronger until the roads were slick with water. Slightly shivering with a face set as stone Pietro continued his walk down the dark alleyway. Soon enough, the familiar smell of seawater greeted him as he neared the Acolyte base. Placed conveniently on the Bayville docks, the base was disguised as a rundown warehouse. Pietro sighed, gazing up at the boarded up windows, trying to convince himself what he was doing here. Magneto's calls were always as unexpected as they were unwelcome to Pietro, usually leading to stupid plans for the Brotherhood to beat the X-Men, which always failed. This time Magneto had asked to speak with Pietro personally, face-to-face, which was rare. He had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach considering the only other time he had been called here was when Wanda escaped the mental asylum. 

'Oh yeah, this is gonna be great,' he thought sarcastically to himself approaching the secret entrance of the hideout with some difficulty. It was a side door, blocked off by empty crates. After moving two of them and bending over to pick up a third, a screen popped out of a section of the wall that slid open right next to his face. He fell over backwards in shock onto the wet ground that soaked through the back of his jeans.

"What the hell!" he shouted angrily picking uphis thoroughly wet self. The screen blinked on, and Pyro's demonic face grinned back at him.

"Hello there! You could just knock you know," he said.

"How could I knock? The door was blocked!" Pietro asked as rudely as possible.

"Well, sooorry! We always come through the roof, and besides you're an hour late. Magneto thought you were a no-show," Pyro said frowning.

"Whatever, just let me in," Pietro said, eager to get out of the rain.

"Fine, just a sec…" Pietro heard a deep rumbling sound and the planks that the crates were over slid open and all the crates fell into the opening. Once they all dropped through, the section closed up and a metal door was revealed on the wall the crates had been blocking.

"Now just go to the end of the hall and knock on the door. One of 'em should answer," Pyro drawled with the tone of a bored receptionist. The screen blinked of and slid back into the wall. It was dark outside, but not half as dark as the hallway Pietro had just entered. He shut the door behind him and groped his way down the hallway, his jeans making a squishing sound as he walked. Finally he reached the door Pyro had mentioned and knocked loudly. After a moment of waiting in the darkness the door was opened and Pietro found himself face to face with Colossus who towered at least two feet above him, regarding him with suspicion.

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	2. The Acolytes

Hey peeps! Sorry it took such a long time to update! Here's the next chapter. Plz read and review!

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"Uh, I'm here to see Magneto…" Colossus said nothing, but stepped to the side to let him in. Pietro's eyes burned, trying to adjust to the bright lights in the room. Pietro looked around what he assumed was the rec room. The last time he was here they had just moved in and there were nothing but boxes everywhere. Now, there was a large plasma TV in one corner that Sabertooth was watching from his seat on a large black sofa. He was watching Jerry Springer and he squealed with delight as two midget strippers beat the crap out of each other. Colossus walked over a long glass table with four metal chairs. He sat down and continued to read his copy of the latest Harry Potter. Both Sabertooth and Colossus acted like Pietro wasn't even in the room. Pietro's gaze turned to the other person sitting at the table right next to Colossus. Gambit was playing solitaire, his haunting red and black eyes lazily looking at each card until he looked up and saw Pietro.

"Well, well, well, look what the cat dragged in," he said, evilly grinning at Pietro.

"Ha ha," he replied sarcastically.

"Magneto is none too pleased with you, you know. You're an hour late," Gambit taunted, glad he had someone to torment besides the other Acolytes.

"Can you just tell me where I'm supposed to go?" Pietro asked the frustration creeping into his voice.

Gambit pointed to a door on Sabertooth's side of the room, "Go straight through there. And try not to drip water everywhere," he laughed, nudging Colossus to join him. Colossus looked over the top of his book and gave Gambit a look that very clearly said, 'Touch me again and it will be the last thing you ever do." Gambit took the hint and grumpily went back to playing solitaire.

"So, this is what the famous Acolytes do all day? Really impressive guys," Pietro said loudly, as he walked over to the door. Sabertooth, Gambit, and Colossus just glared at him in response. Snickering to himself, he opened the door and went off to meet with Magneto.

The door led to yet another hallway to Pietro's dismay. This one however was brightly lit and made of stainless steel. Pietro sighed for the umpteenth time and made his way to the large steel door at the very end of the hall, leaving a trail of water behind him. There were other doors in the hallway, but knowing his father's elaborate manner no simple door would be suitable for the self-proclaimed "master of magnetism". He also noticed that besides doors there were security cameras placed in various positions on the walls that were following his every move. He knocked on the giant steel door and the familiar sound of his father's cold, unfeeling voice greeted him.

"Come in." Pietro wondered if he should knowing that no good would come out of this, but he decided he had come to far to turn back, so when the door slid open sideways with a futuristic clicking sound he entered.

"You're over an hour late and have managed to trek water everywhere. Explain yourself." Magneto was sitting in a large metal revolving chair at a long metal desk. In fact the whole room was made of metal; even the fire seemed to have something metallic about it. Pietro stood before the desk awkwardly; feeling like he was back in Elementary school and the teacher was scolding him for throwing things at people.

"Well?" Magneto's eyebrows arched, waiting for Pietro's explanation.

"Uh, I, uh, couldn't get here on time because of the rain. And there's water everywhere because my clothes are wet," Pietro finally answered weakly. He wondered to himself why Magneto always had this effect on him. Most of the time it seemed like nothing could shut him up, but when it came to talking to his father, he was at a loss for words.

"My time is valuable Pietro, let's try to not waste it. Now what I wanted to see you about was the Brotherhood's new mission." Pietro rolled his eyes before he could stop himself.

"You're not rolling your eyes at me are you Pietro? This involves the Brotherhood directly which you are a part of, now you better start taking this seriously because this mission is very important and there will be no mistakes, or there will be severe consequences." Magneto was using his powers to make the collection of pen knives on his desk levitate in a circle, and Pietro wondered if he was going to throw them at him.

"Yes sir," he replied, eying the pen knives nervously.

"That's better, now the Brotherhood's new mission is to infiltrate Xavier's mansion and live as X-Men until I learn all of Xavier's plans…" Magneto lowered the pen knives taking Pietro's shocked expression as awe and smiling at his own sheer brilliance, "It should be easy enough, even for mutants such as you five, but with Xavier's bleeding heart how can it fail?" Pietro didn't say anything, he just stood there with his mouth open, staring at his father with utter disbelief.

"Good, I'm glad you agree with me. Now go inform the rest of the Brotherhood and get to it. Give me daily updates on this comlink. You should be able to figure out how it works," Magneto said, using his powers to send the comlink over to Pietro who took it and exited the room quietly. Once the door slid shut behind his son he called Mastermind who was standing unnoticed by Pietro in a corner of the room.

"Mastermind?" Magneto asked, placing his hands together thoughtfully, and staring off into the distance.

"Yes Magneto?"

"Follow him, and make sure everything goes as planned."

"Yes Magneto."

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	3. The New Assignment

This is the next, chapter, I hope you enjoy it and please review!

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Once Pyro let him out of the base, Pietro was left by himself to make the journey back to the Brotherhood Boarding House. The rain had stopped, but the streets were slick with puddles so using his powers was out of the question. Pietro wouldn't have used them even if he could have. He needed time to think about how he was going to break the news to his teammates that they were expected to live with the X-Men. Pietro's stomach tightened in a knot, knowing the reactions would not be pleasant, shuffling his feet slowly through the puddles on the seemingly empty streets, his hand shoved in his pockets. He also knew that they didn't really have a choice, Magneto's patience was wearing thin with the Brotherhood, and Pietro seriously believed that his threats were genuine and were guaranteed to be painful if they failed. Finally, two hours later, Pietro found himself trudging up the familiar walkway of the Brotherhood Boarding House. As he approached the doorway he could hear his beloved fresh-out-of-the-crazy-house twin sister Wanda screaming from inside.

"IF I EVER CATCH YOU IN MY UNDERWEAR DRAWER AGAIN, I WILL MURDER YOU WITH MY BARE HANDS, SO HELP ME GOD!"

'Great,' Pietro thought, gritting his teeth and opening the front door. He stood in the doorway taking in the scene before him. Toad was cowering at Wanda's feet, curled into fetal position, covering his head with his hands, his body twitching involuntarily every minute or so. Wanda towered over him, shaking with rage, her hands clenched into fists, and her face was so red it looked like she might explode. Blob and Lance were nowhere to be seen.

"Aw, come on baby, I didn't mean nothing by it! It won't happen again, promise!" Toad whimpered looking up at Wanda, and noticing Pietro's arrival, and before Wanda had a chance to murder him he added, "Hey, look whose home!" Pietro glared at Toad as Wanda turned to face him. Once her back was turned Toad scampered up the stairs at a speed that would have given Pietro a run for his money.

"Where have you been?" she asked him with a huff, her face color slowly returning to normal as she tied to regain her composure. Pietro had to admit that their relationship wasn't as rocky as it once had been, once she had found out that Pietro had been abandoned by Magneto as well, two weeks after she had been. They weren't the best of friends, but they had more than their mother in common, they shared a psychopathic, egotistical father who had made their lives a living hell.

Pietro shut the door behind him with a grimace knowing that she wasn't going to like his answer.

"Magneto called, he has a 'new assignment' for us. We better get the others, they have to hear this too."

"Are you fucking kidding me!" Wanda followed him up the stairs in disbelief. Magneto hadn't given them a mission in months, and since it seemed like Mystique was never coming back the Brotherhood seemed like nothing more than an empty title. Pietro shook, his head pounding on Lance's door, and Wanda did the same for Blob's door. Lance opened the door and groggily looked at Pietro.

"What do you want?"

"Guess what Lance? Magneto gave us this really fun thing to do! Personally, I'm really excited, but I'll only tell you if you come downstairs, ok?" Lance looked like he wanted to sock Pietro in the face, but knowing that this 'fun thing' involved Magneto it really wasn't going to be any fun at all, especially if he decided not to do it, he followed Pietro downstairs. Once all the members of the Brotherhood, except for Pietro, were unhappily settled on the beat-up sofa in the living room, he paced a couple of times in front of them before deciding the best way to do this was to tell them straightforward. He looked at his housemates who were a sight in themselves. Lance was wearing his green boxers and wife-beater, his hair was all over the place from a restless sleep. Wanda was together as usual, her red corset and black pants looking flawless and she had just painted her nails crimson that night. Since their fighting days were supposedly over, Toad and Blob had really let themselves go. Blob looked like he had gained a few pounds, and Pietro couldn't remember the last time Toad took a bath.

"Well? What is it?" Wanda asked, getting impatient.

Pietro sighed, "Magneto decided that our new mission is to live with the X-Men so we can find out their plans." Wanda's mouth dropped open, and Lance seemed to boil over with rage. Blob simply looked dazed, but Toad wasn't letting any hint of emotion be revealed by his face.

"Fuck no!" Lance yelled, "There's no way in hell I'm living with those goody goddies!"

"Yeah," Blob said, agreeing with Lance as usual.

"Oh, like we really have a choice Lance!" Wanda snapped back at him.

"We do! I'm staying here! I don't know about you guys, but has got to be the dumbest idea ever! What does Magneto think that they're planning, anyway! I'm sure they've been just as busy as us!"

"Lance, Magneto's not going to let that happen. He made it clear that there would be punishment if we didn't go," Pietro tried to reason.

"Have you fucking lost your minds! We are talking about the **X-Men** here!"

"I know, but…"

"What makes him thinks they're just going to let us waltz up in there and live with them anyway?"

"Hmmm, I don't know Lance, maybe because you did that before!" Wanda yelled.

"Forget this, I'm not going!" Lance stormed up the stairs slamming his door with a force that shook the whole house. Wanda and Pietro looked at each other with exasperation, while Toad just sat the whole time being uncharacteristically silent, and Blob fell asleep, all this action was being too much for him to handle.

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	4. When Tragedy Strikes

This is the big chapter so I hope you guys enjoy it. Also, I wanted to thank those of you who took the time to review or to read this. I really appreciate it!

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After everyone else had gone to sleep, Pietro lay awake on his bed, staring up at his ceiling in the darkness. Lance had made it very clear that he wasn't going to follow Magneto's orders, which only added to the already growing doubt that he had. Now he wasn't so sure he was going to either. With the way everything was going lately, maybe it was just better for him to leave it all behind. It was either that or convince Lance to go with them to the Institute, which Pietro couldn't see happening anytime soon. Even though Lance and Pietro hadn't been on what you could call good terms recently, but he still considered Lance his best friend, and he couldn't see himself leaving Lance at the boarding house while he and the rest of the Brotherhood joined the X-Men. Finally, after making the grim decision to run away in the morning, Pietro shut the heavy lids to his vivid blue eyes and fell asleep.

Pietro woke with a start a lot earlier in the morning than he would have liked to someone banging on his door and yelling frantically. He sat up groggily and was about to yell something rather impolite back when he smelled smoke. Jumping up quickly he opened his door and when he saw that the air was thick with smoke his heart skipped a beat. Rather than asking Wanda what happened, who was now banging in Lance's door, he rushed downstairs and saw that there was fire in the kitchen, and the glow of the red-hot flames was starting to spread to the living room. If it made its way to the front room, the door would be blocked and there would be no way for them to escape. They couldn't call 911 because the phone had been disconnected weeks ago since they never bothered to pay the electric bill. Panicking and knowing that they had to get out of the house now, Pietro turned around to run upstairs and smacked into Toad who was surprisingly fully dressed, and just standing and staring at the fire.

"Todd! What the fuck are you doing! Get what you need and get outside!" Snapping out of it, Toad shook his head in agreement and turned to go out the front door. At the top of the stairs Pietro saw that Wanda had managed to get Lance up, and they were both trying to wake up Blob, whose door was locked. Wanda finally broke the doorknob using her powers, and Lance pushed open the door. Before Lance could go inside Pietro blocked his way.

"Get out of here! I'll take care of it!" Both Wanda and Lance silently agreed, knowing that it would be easiest for Pietro to get out. Lance went into his room to grab anything that had any value to him which included the keys to his jeep, before racing down the stairs.

"Be careful brother," Wanda said softly, putting a hand on Pietro's shoulder, and following Lance's lead downstairs, not taking any belongings with her. Pietro stared after her in wonder, thinking that what she had just said was the nicest thing she ever had since they had been reunited. Sirens wailing in the distance brought Pietro back to reality and he went to get Blob.

"Fred! Wake up! We have to go!" Pietro yelled. The giant Blob stirred and grunted.

"What's going on?" he grumbled.

"There's a fire, we have to go now! If you don't get your big ass out of bed right now you are going to die!" That seemed to get the point across. Blob jumped up as fast as it was possible with his out of shape physique. Pietro couldn't help, but feel sorry for Fred as he watched his teammate struggle. They both made their way out into the hallway where to Pietro's horror they saw that the fire had spread and was blocking the door way. They were trapped. The smoke stung Pietro's eyes, and he started to choke, his lungs in desperate need of fresh air.

"There's got to be another way out of here," Pietro mumbled, pushing past Fred and going into his room. Looking frantically out the window, Pietro noticed someone standing near the bushes in the distance. His window was looking out from the backside of the house so he knew that it couldn't be Wanda, Lance, or Toad because they were in the front with the jeep. He squinted trying to see more clearly in the dim morning light, but quickly went back to finding a way to escape when he heard Wanda yelling. After figuring that their best bet would be to use the drainpipe to get down, Pietro went to get Fred. When he turned he saw Fred was already standing in the doorway,his face expressionless.

"Pietro, you have to go," he said, not looking Pietro in the eyes.

"I know we have to go…"

"No," Blob said shaking his head, "You have to go. I can't fit through the window." What he was saying took Pietro by surprise and it seemed like he was actually seeing Fred for the first time. He knew it was true that there was no way Fred was going to be able to fit through the window, but leaving him meant that he was leaving him to die.

"But…" Pietro started weakly.

"No," Fred said again, "Just go, or we're both going to die here."

"I can't."

"I said GO!" Fred pushed Pietro toward the window and opened it for him. Pietro was about to argue back when he saw the resolve in Fred's face. Instead his mouth just hung open as he gaped at Fred at a loss for words. The fire had made its way up the stairs and Pietro could see it crackling in the doorway behind Fred, a reminder of just how little time they had. Sadly he climbed through the window and looked back at Fred one last time who was slowly waving back, as the fire crept in the room around him. Pietro shut his eyes and carefully climbed down the drainpipe, trying not to think about anything but surviving. He landed on the ground softly, and made his way to the front of the house in a daze. The firefighters had arrived and were hooking up the hose. Lance, Wanda, and Toad were huddled by the jeep where one of the firefighters was talking to them. Pietro staggered over to them, looking up at the place they had lived for what seemed like forever being eaten alive by flames as he walked.

"Where's Blob?" Lance asked interrupting the fireman. Pietro tried to think of something to say, but his silence told them everything. Toad quickly looked away, but Pietro could see his eyes filling with tears. After all, Fred was his best friend. Wanda stared angrily at the ground her arms tucked firmly around her sides. This was all too much, Pietro could feel his mind slipping from reality, from this nightmare. He stared at the ground intensely, ashes from the fire swirling softly around him, wishing that the ground would open up and swallow him. Anything to getaway. Maybe he could still run...

"If there's someone in there, then I'm sorry to tell you kids that it's probably too late. We'll do everything we can, but for the meantime, do you have someplace to stay? A relative's house or something?" the fireman asked, looking at each of their faces sadly.Pietro looked up at them too, leaving them was not an option, at least not now.Wanda, Lance, and Pietro exchanged a look. They had no choice now but to go to the Institute.

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	5. Aftermath

Here's the next chapter, I hope you enjoy it!

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Pietro sat quietly in the backseat of the jeep with his eyes shut tightly. He was hoping, praying, that everything that had happened was just a terrible dream that he would be waking up from any second. Of course he knew this wasn't true, he could feel the warmth of the morning sun on his face, pressing gently against his eyelids until he finally opened them, looking out at the blurry shapes of the things they drove past. It was hard to be believe that the fire had happened only hours earlier. People were out walking their dogs, picking up their newspapers, and going to work like this was any other day. Like everything was the same. Like Freddy wasn't dead…Pietro grimaced, straining to keep the memories from flooding back. There would be time to think, but now definitely was not that time.

He shifted in his seat and felt something hard jab uncomfortably in his side. Reaching into his pocket, Pietro felt the comlink that Magneto had giving him, expecting daily reports. Unbelievably, he had almost forgotten about Magneto, and wondered if he should contact him, but Pietro stopped himself from asking the others, not wanting to be the one to break the silence they had been sitting in since they left the fire station. Magneto would understand…hopefully. The firemen had wanted detailed reports of what happened, but since none of them could find the words to explain anything, the firemen gave them a phone number in case they remembered anything, and let them go.

Lance sighed suddenly, and stopped the jeep, his eyes angrily focusing straight ahead. Toad lifted his head from where it was resting on his crossed arms, and peeked over Lance's head to see why they had stopped, and Wanda stirred from sleep, blinking a few times to make sure what she was seeing was real. The gates to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters loomed over them menacingly, and they felt anything but welcome.

"We're here," Lance muttered, stating the obvious, as he drummed angrily on the steering wheel. Pietro felt terrible for Lance, he knew this was the toughest on him. After he had quit the X-Men and went back to the Brotherhood, it was hard for him to have to swallow his pride and come crawling back. His past relationship with Kitty wasn't going to make things any easier, that and having to live in the same house as Scott Summers.

Not knowing what to do next, they sat in the car, waiting anxiously for something to happen. They didn't have to wait long. The intercom next to the gate crackled, a not a minute after the surveillance camera spotted them.

"Can I help you punks with somethin'?" Logan asked them, sounding just as intimidating as he did in person.

Pietro cleared his throat and spoke for the group, "We're here to join the X-Men."

Logan was silent for a moment before he starting laughing loudly. Toad slumped down in his seat.

"Let's get out of here. I told you guys you were fucking insane! They're never going to accept us!" Lance yelled turning in his seat to face Pietro. Pietro stared blankly back at him.

"Shut up Lance! Where else were we going to go!" Wanda screamed at Lance, as Toad covered his ears with his hands and started rocking back and forth in his seat, like a little kid, his eyes shut tightly.

"Wait, you kids are serious?" Logan asked, bringing their attention back to the intercom. A few seconds passed by when another voice sounded out of the little black box.

"Children, please forgive Logan, please come in." They had never been so happy to hear Professor Xavier's voice, especially when the tall metal gates slid open. It meant that he would at least hear them out. As Lance pulled the jeep through the gates, Pietro wondered if Xavier had heard word of the fire or he was just letting them in out of the goodness of his 'bleeding heart' as Magneto had put it. Either way, he and the other members of the Brotherhood were about to find out.

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	6. An Act of Kindness

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As they approached the front entrance they saw Storm, Xavier, and Wolverine standing solemnly, waiting to greet them, fully dressed even at this early hour of morning. Pietro couldn't help but be ashamed when Lance parked the jeep. They looked terrible; Lance was still wearing his wife beater and green boxers, Toad was wearing an oversized grey t-shirt and dark green sweats that had a few holes. Wanda was in a red tank top, baggy black pajama bottoms, and mismatched socks, one striped black and red and the other was just black. Her short, black hair was tangled to the point where it looked like no amount of brushing was going to do any good, and she had absolutely no makeup. Pietro was wearing a white tee-shirt and the basketball shorts he had from when he played for his old school. All four of them were filthy with ashes from the fire, and Pietro had a few scratches from climbing down the drainpipe. When they climbed out of the jeep, Logan didn't meet eyes with any of them, but Pietro could feel the heat of Storm's glare even before he was facing her. She made it no secret that she strongly disliked Pietro, since it was his fault that her nephew Evan went to jail. The rivalry with Evan felt like a lifetime ago, to Pietro however. Things somehow seemed simpler back then.

"Do come inside," Professor Xavier said, looking over each of them, before turning to go inside. Storm opened the door from the professor, and Logan shuffled in after them, grunting at the four teenagers, who filed in after him.

Lance, Pietro, Toad, and Wanda were all seated, to Storm's obvious disgust, on the beautiful suede couch in Xavier's office who sat at his desk facing them, with an expression that gave them no hint to what he was thinking.

"Ororo, Logan, will you please excuse us for a moment," Xavier said to the two older mutants.

"You must forgive them, they don't know about what happened," he said to the Brotherhood once they had left.

"You know?" Toad asked suddenly, shocking his housemates. This was the first time he had spoken up since the day before. He was looking completely alert, and for some reason, nervous.

"I don't know exactly what took place, this morning, but as you know my telepathy allows me to sense things and I sensed a great disturbance with the Brotherhood," he answered cooling, gazing thoughtfully at Toad who was starting to sweat. "If it's not too much to ask, would one of you tell me what happened?"

Wanda spoke up first, "There was a fire…our house is gone. I don't know…how…it started," she said, trying to explain with a distant look on her face.

"Fred is dead," Lance added, his brow furrowed and his arms crossed. At this the professor leaned back at his chair looking troubled at this news.

"I see…well I am sorry to hear that. If you would like you four may stay here as long as you like, or until you can get something sorted out."

Pietro couldn't believe what he was saying and it looked like Wanda and Lance couldn't either from their wide-eyed expressions.

"I'll take that as a yes," Xavier said smiling kindly, "I'm sure you would like to get cleaned up and get something to eat. The showers are upstairs and the first two doors on the left. I'm afraid we don't have any other clothes for you now, but we can take care of that today. Breakfast will be waiting in your rooms. You can have the two rooms at the end of the corridor on the right…I think that's everything. Any questions?" he asked quizzically. Now they were completely speechless. Pietro was in awe of how Xavier was taking them in, with almost no questions asked, when they were supposed to be enemies. He wasn't judging them on how they looked, and was showing them kindness and respect. Pietro didn't know what to think about this, or even how to start to thank him. All he was thinking was that Lance was the one who was insane. How could he have left this place, to go back to the Brotherhood when he had lived here? It was amazing how this one act of kindness pushed Magneto completely from Pietro's mind. Amazing and unfortunate…

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	7. Mastermind's Report

Really sorry this took such a long time. I could give you a lot of excuses, but I figured the next three chapters would be better. Please review! In case you couldn't tell I LOVE reviews.

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Mastermind fidgeted anxiously while he was waiting outside of the entrance to Magneto's office. Noticing his reflection in the large metal door he began to pull the leaves out of his hair in an effort to look presentable. It was no secret to anyone that Mastermind was scared of Magneto, the reason being that Magneto was the only one who had the power to resist the illusions Mastermind could project into people's heads. When he was first recruited the other Acolytes would single him out because of the way he sucked up to Magneto, but after a few mishaps with Mastermind's powers, including one where Remy mistook Colossus for a French prostitute, they left him alone.

Mastermind jumped when one of Magneto's surveillance cameras turned suddenly to focus on him.

"Come in."

Magneto's voice sent a chill running down his spine, and he prayed silently that what he had to report would be considered good news. The giant steel door slid open, allowing Mastermind to enter. The first thing he noticed was that Magneto, who was standing to the side of his desk, was wearing his helmet, so Mastermind's powers would be useless against him. The door closed as soon as Mastermind was inside, shutting excess light out of the dimly lit room. The only source of light came from the fire that cast an eerie glow on all the metal surfaces. Mastermind began wringing his hands and he could feel sweat beading down his neck.

"Sit down," Magneto insisted, pulling a chair from the side of the room in front of his desk with a wave of his hand. Magneto sat in his own metal revolving chair on the opposite side of the desk and gazed at Mastermind expectantly. Mastermind sat down grasping the arms of his chair rather tightly. The assortment of sharp metal objects that Magneto displayed on his desk was doing nothing to ease Mastermind's nerves.

"Report?"

"Well, uh, I followed the boy home last night, and I listened in on their conversations. It sounded like they weren't planning on following orders from what I heard, and I began to worry, but it just so happens that one of the members, uh, took matters into their own hands to persuade the others…"

"The fire?" Magneto asked.

"Umm…yes. You knew?"

"Of course I knew. It's going to be all over the news, continue."

"Yes, well, the fire served its purpose, but there was another loss besides the house. Fred Dukes…the Blob, is dead."

"Interesting…well out of the Brotherhood members he was the least useful, so it isn't that painful of a loss. I take it the others went to Xavier?" Magneto asked thoughtfully. Mastermind couldn't help but be amazed at the way Magneto talked about these living, breathing teenagers as if they were pawns in a game that could easily be replaced, two of them were even his own children, but Mastermind couldn't help but feel that Magneto would have been more upset if the weather didn't agree with him.

"Yes," he answered simply, deciding that it was better them than him.

"Very well then. Excellent job Mastermind. You may leave, and expect a bonus with your next payment.

"Thank you Magneto," Mastermind said graciously, as he stood up to leave. He was halfway to the door when Magneto called out to him.

"Oh, and Mastermind…"

Mastermind turned, "Yes?"

"Remember that those who are loyal to me are always rewarded. If you ever decide to leave, I'm afraid that things would be a lot more difficult for you. You know what happens to my enemies, don't you Mastermind?"

Mastermind swallowed nervously, "Yes."

"…That is all, you may go now."

Mastermind sighed with relief when the heavy steel door slid shut and he was out of Magneto's sight. Happy that things didn't go too badly he went to his room, which was only three doors down the hall from Magneto's office and went to sleep.

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	8. A Sister's Guilt

A lot of explaining about Wanda and Pietro's relationship in this chapter. If you like it please review!

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"Pietro! Sit down," Wanda finally said to Pietro who had been pacing around the room they would be sharing for the past ten minutes. Pietro sighed, sitting down on his twin bed and dropping his head into his hands. Now that the Brotherhood had showered and been fed, Xavier had called a meeting with the X-Men to discuss the Brotherhood's arrival, and waiting for it to be over was making Pietro sick to his stomach. Wanda looked sadly at him for a moment before she got off her bed and sat down next to Pietro on his. Pietro raised his head to look at her, and it was obvious that the lack of sleep was getting to him from his sickly appearance. Wanda couldn't bring herself to touch her twin brother, so she tried to comfort him with words.

"Pietro…" she started, not sure what she could say to make everything better. As he stared at her with soulless blue eyes, Wanda wondered what else Magneto had done to him to make him this way. There was no doubt in her mind that it was Magneto's fault- everything that had gone wrong in their short lives was. Wanda broke from Pietro's penetrating stare, and felt guilt bubble up inside her. When she first came to live with the Brotherhood it was so easy to take her hatred of Magneto out on Pietro. During all those years in the mental institution she had convinced herself that it was his fault, he didn't try to stop Magneto form putting her away, and the memory had replayed in her mind more times than she could count. Now that she thought about it, it was silly to think that a toddler would've had any power over an adult. Not that Magneto could even be considered human…what kind of father would use his own children as test subjects, and then get rid of them when they were no longer useful in his experiments?

Although they were twins Wanda and Pietro could not look less like each other, Wanda looked just like their late mother while Pietro had the misfortune of inheriting looks that made him almost identical to the man he hated. It was true that Wanda mostly avoided Pietro because she couldn't stand being in the same room as someone who so closely resembled a monster. Wanda couldn't help it, she just couldn't get rid of that grudge she had against Pietro no matter how hard she tried--and she was trying.

The door opened and Wanda and Pietro both looked up to see Lance and Toad standing in the doorway. Lance was the only one wearing clean clothes because he had saved some of his things from the fire, and Pietro couldn't help but feel jealous that he hadn't done the same. He had been so focused on getting out that he hadn't thought to grab any belongings.

"Hey," Lance said awkwardly, "We were getting pretty tired of just sitting, so we decided to see what you guys were doing and…"

"Lance, shut up and sit down," Pietro said smiling for the first time in weeks. Lance returned the smile and sat down on Wanda's bed so he was facing them. Lance's smile was more than enough of an apology for the mood he had been in lately. Toad shuffled in after him keeping his eyes on the floor, and shut the door after him.

"Soooo, are we just waiting until someone comes up to get us?" Lance asked.

"Pretty much…have you thought about what you're gonna to say to Kitty?" Pietro smirked obnoxiously. Wanda looked at Pietro curiously, wondering where this sudden bout of energy was coming from. He hadn't acted like the seemingly carefree Pietro in ages. Acted. That was the perfect word for Pietro's behavior; it was all an act. An act that had people thinking that nothing was wrong with him when nothing could be so far from the truth, and it worked so well.

Lance shrugged, "I have thought about what I'm going to say to Summers, though. If he tries anything I'm gonna kill him, no questions asked."

Pietro nodded in agreement to this while Wanda looked thoughtful for a moment before saying, "Lance you better not get us kicked out of here. We should be really grateful right now, and on our best behavior. Besides I'm a lot sneakier than you, if there are any problems I should be the one to take care of them."

Lance and Pietro stared at her, dumbfounded. Wanda rarely said a word when they had lived in the Boarding House together; she had kept to her self pretty much the whole time, only discussing things when it was necessary, so it was shocking that she was actually taking part in their conversation. In some weird way surviving the fire was bringing the members of the Brotherhood closer together; closer than they ever had been when they were a team.

"Wanda, if I'm not mistaken, were you trying to be funny?" Pietro asked her dramatically, his eyebrows arched for emphasis. Toad looked up from the floor to Wanda who was actually smiling and nodding her head slightly. Toad was about to say something when someone knocked on the door.

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	9. Meeting the Beast

This chapter is a little bit lighter than recent chapters. I know I've kinda been piling on the angst...please review.

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"Uh, come in," Lance called out.

"Hello and good morning everyone, I'm Mr. McCoy," Beast said cheerfully, as he opened the door looking at each of them from behind black-wire framed glasses. He himself had never exchanged words with the Brotherhood, and was willing to give them a chance. They stared back at him warily, but this didn't put Beast off in the slightest.

"Well, Professor Xavier asked me to give each of you a medical examination to make sure there were no injuries from the fire. He also asked me to tell you that if any of you feel like you need someone to talk to we will be available for therapy sessions. With that all I have to say is welcome to the Institute, and I'm sure it will be interesting getting to know you four," he continued with a sincere smile. The Brotherhood were silent at this, they were still not sure how to react to the extreme kindness they had been shown. It was something they had never really encountered in their lives, and it was overwhelming.

Beast cleared his throat, and gave them an understanding look before asking, "Are there any volunteers to go first?"

"I guess I will," Pietro said getting off the bed to follow Beast out of the room.

"Very good…Pietro is it? Yes, I'm sure I'll get the hang of your names in no time," he said opening the door and walking out into the corridor. Pietro waved a quick goodbye to the others before shutting the door behind him.

Pietro walked quietly behind Beast as they approached the end of the hallway where the stairway started. The mansion was considerably a lot louder now that the other students were waking up, and laughter was echoing from downstairs. Pietro looked confused at this because he was pretty sure it was a weekday, although he couldn't be sure because the days at the Brotherhood Boarding House faded into each other, each as boring and pointless as the next.

"It's winter vacation in case you're wondering. The students still have classes here at the Institute, though. Professor Xavier feels it's necessary for the students to keep their bodies and minds in shape as well as their powers in check," Beast said sensing Pietro's confusion.

"Mmm," Pietro answered, feigning interest.

The glass front door of the mansion slammed open, and a student ran inside, her flip-flops made a clicking sound as she ran across the elaborate tile in the front room.

"MR. McCOY!" the girl yelled running up the stairs to Beast. Pietro didn't recognize her, so he figured she was one of the new ones Lance had mentioned. Her long, straight black hair was dripping water all over the place, and her white tank top and black capris were soaked too.

"MR. McCOY!" she repeated as she got closer to them.

"Yes, Jubilee! What is it?" Beast asked, he was obviously annoyed with her, like this sort of thing happened all the time.

"Bobby PUSHED me in the pool!"

"She's LYING!" a boy yelled running inside after her, as fast as he could. Jubilee gave him a look so venomous and full of hatred she reminded Pietro of the witch in Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, before she turned herself into a hag. Jubilee's mascara was smeared down her face and she was crossing her arms and scowling.

"Well Bobby, would you like to tell me what happened then?" Beast asked Bobby placidly.

"I think it's obvious what happened, so what are you going to do about this, this thing!" Jubilee asked. Pietro would have laughed if she didn't look so serious.

"Shut up she-devil!" Bobby cried out at her. Jubilee gave him a murderous look, and Bobby was quiet.

"Maybe we should talk about this when you both have calmed down. Jubilee why don't you go and get yourself dried off, I have some business to take care of," Beast said sighing.

"But Mr. McCoy! Logan told us to see you about this!" Jubilee said eager to see Bobby punished sooner rather than later.

"Fine, Pietro do you mind if I talk to them for a second. Jubilee, Bobby, this is Pietro Maximoff. He and his friends are staying with us for a while. Remember the discussion this morning, or were you two too busy fighting with each other to pay attention?"

Bobby and Jubilee just gawked at Pietro for a moment having just realized he had been standing there the whole time.

"Of course I remember Mr. McCoy. Hi, I'm Jubilee, and this pathetic excuse of a mutant is Bobby" Jubilee said smiling sweetly, pulling herself together and extending her hand to Pietro.

"Hey," he said, awkwardly shaking her cold wet hand, and wishing desperately that he didn't have to meet these people while he was still wearing his pajamas.

"Hi…" Bobby muttered sticking his hand out to shake Pietro's, his eyes glued to the floor. Pietro shook Bobby's hand too, and Beast smiled like this was the kind of Kodak moment he took up this job for in the first place, where enemies forgave each other in times of need. This wasn't really true, though, since Pietro had never met these two in his life, but rather than point this out Pietro let Beast have his moment of bliss. The day that the Brotherhood shook hands with the X-Men would be the day to remember, but Pietro had a feeling of doubt that this day was a lot further of in the future than Beast expected.

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	10. Juvinile Behavior

I was able to update really quickly this time because reviews motivate me. I hope you like it, and if you do more will come soon.

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"So now that we're all acquainted here, let's get to the bottom of this. Jubilee, you say that Bobby pushed you in the pool. Bobby, is this true?" Beast asked Bobby.

"Yes," Bobby mumbled keeping his eyes on his shoes.

"HA!" Jubilee cried triumphantly.

"But she started it! It's not fair that I get blamed for this whole thing!" Bobby blurted out desperately.

"Oh please! Bobby was trying to flirt with Amara, so I _had_ to tell him that she wasn't interested in girls," Jubilee said very matter-of-factly. Pietro couldn't help but laugh a little, and Beast smiled, closing his eyes and shaking his head at how juvenile this whole situation was.

"I think I get the picture…what were you two doing by the pool in the first place? Don't you know it's freezing outside? Jubilee, please get yourself dried off, and don't worry, I'll take care of Bobby," he said.

"But…" Jubilee started, upset that she was going to hear his punishment.

"Now," Beast insisted firmly. Jubilee sniffled pathetically, and before turning to leave she gave Bobby one last glare. When Jubilee's back was turned Bobby started making faces at her until Beast cleared his throat.

"Sorry Mr. McCoy," he muttered darkly. Now that Jubilee had left it was as if Bobby felt free to look around, and he was looking at Pietro intently. Being the new recruit with the most field experience Bobby was around the X-Men enough to hear how they talked about the Brotherhood. This was his first time coming face-to-face with one of the infamous members, though, so even though he was pre-disposed to hate them, right now he was more curious to find out what they were like.

"Bobby, how many times do I have to tell you? You can't react with violence every time you get upset with someone. It doesn't fix anything," Beast lectured. Bobby's attention somewhat shifted over to Beast.

"Yes Mr. McCoy," he answered in a whiny singsong voice.

"I'm serious about this Bobby, just because Jubilee insults your manhood, and kicks your ego down a few notches doesn't mean you can attack her. If anything I think it's good to have her around because your ego gets too big for your own good sometimes. Now to take out all of this aggression you have you will have a training session every morning for a week," Beast concluded sternly.

"That's not fair! I can't be alone with Logan! He'll _kill_ me!" Bobby shouted.

"I've made my decision, now go and tell the other new recruits to get away from the pool before someone else falls in."

Bobby trudged angrily down the stairs muttering something about a she-devil under his breath.

When the front door shut behind him Beast turned to Pietro, "It's hard to believe they're high school students sometimes, isn't it?" he asked. Pietro nodded his head in response, and Beast continued, "Ah, well…those were just two of the many new recruits who live here. I heard you and your friends are unfamiliar with them. They're friendly enough and their hearts are in the right places, but sometimes I think we're running a day-care center instead of an Institute."

Pietro found it funny that Beast kept referring to the Brotherhood as Pietro's 'friends'. It was like he thought they had chosen to live together or something. Pietro didn't _have_ any real friends. He never could let anyone that close, and that was how it always was, not that he would if he ever got the chance. Everything was too complicated. Pietro just happened to be one of the lucky five screwed up teenagers who were selected to be members of the elite Brotherhood. The truth was that their lives were messed up to the point where living in that house was their only option. Nothing good came out of living there because that meant you weren't good enough to be one of the X-Men. You were given hell by a team of teams who thought they were better than you, and it was your fault because you 'chose' to be on the loser team. You did your best to give them back ten-times the trouble they gave you, and in most cases the Brotherhood were considered the instigators because the X-Men were too perfect to ever want to fight with anyone. Oh, they were all about fighting for the greater good, and cooperation and peace between all mutants. Nobody saw the elbows thrown at the Brotherhood down the hall or heard the nasty gossip that was spread before they put a foot through the pristine doorway of Bayville High that was much too classy for the likes of them. If people already thought of them as delinquents how were they supposed to make a good impression on anyone?

"Well now that that's taken care of let's get you checked up. It's this way," Beast said encouraging Pietro to follow him down the stairs, "The professor tells me that once we get you kids some new clothes, there's going to be a special dinner tonight for you four, and maybe if you're comfortable enough, with some of the other students. Kind of like a getting to know you dinner. Won't that be interesting?"

Pietro's face paled as he followed Beast silently, 'Oh yes,' he thought, 'This is going to be _very_ interesting.'

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	11. Breaking the Connection

Please read and enjoy. I'm already working on the next chapter so that should be up shortly. Please review if it's not too much trouble.

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"Ah, here we are," Beast said as he and Pietro approached a door with a window that read: MEDICAL. He opened the door and ushered Pietro inside the medical wing of the Institute. For some reason that Pietro couldn't place he started to feel strangely anxious as he looked around the brightly lit room. There was a metal examining table on one side of the room and a curtain on the wall opposite the door that led to a row of hospital beds. The medical equipment in the room far surpassed that in any standard hospital, and it was obvious to Pietro that Professor Xavier spared nothing when it came to the safety of his students. Everything was spotless and the machines were beeping and whirring, and everything was in order. Just as Magneto always kept his lab. Pietro couldn't believe how on edge being around all of these medical tools made him.

"Well Pietro, why don't you take a seat, and we'll get started in a minute," Beast said, gesturing to the table and going behind the curtain to get his things. Pietro walked over to the table, and went to touch the cool metal surface. The moment his hand made contact with the steel he pulled it back sharply. His eyes widened and he looked at the table intently. The feel of the metal on his skin was so familiar it was unbearable. Pietro was suddenly reminded of the comlink that had been sitting in his pocket for the past two days. This was what was supposed to keep in contact with Magneto. Magneto. Just the thought of him made Pietro's insides churn. He pulled the comlink out of his pocket and turned it over in his hand thoughtfully. Pietro knew it was only a matter of time before Magneto would try to contact him, but he didn't want that to happen. He was sick of being the only one who had to deal with Magneto, Wanda was his kid too, and yet the entire burden fell on Pietro's shoulders. He couldn't take it anymore, the situation was killing him. Pietro knew what he needed to do, and he began looking around the room wildly wondering if he would dare to do it. He had to; this place was a new beginning for what was once known as the Brotherhood. One that didn't include Magneto. In one jerky movement he hurled the tiny metal device as hard as he could against the wall above the metal table. Pietro smiled weakly at his own daring, even though he knew he would regret it later. It was broken. He bent down and picked up the broken pieces of the comlink as quickly as his powers allowed, and threw them in the small trash can by the door. He was sitting on the examining table by the time Beast rushed back into the room.

"What was that?" he asked Pietro, looking around the room to make sure that none of the expensive equipment was damaged. In his hands he held a stethoscope and a clipboard. As soon as Pietro was sure that there was no possibility that Beast was holding any needles behind his back or in his sleeves he shrugged in response. Beast looked at him oddly for a second before he slid a doctor's stool over to the table and sat down.

"Ok, let's get started then. Do you have any injuries that you want to tell me about?" he asked Pietro.

"Uh, not really…I have these cuts though. From when…I got out," he answered showing him where the scratches on his arms and legs were. Pietro hoped that Beast didn't notice that he was shaking.

"Hmm, we'll get some antiseptic for those, so you don't get an infection. I'm just going to check your heart rate now," Beast said putting on the stethoscope and placing it over Pietro's heart, "…Pietro, your heart is beating much too fast. Are you alright?"

"Umm, yeah, I think…" Pietro answered, squinting. 'Why are the lights so goddamn bright?' he thought too himself as he started to sweat.

"Pietro, you don't look well at all. Let me get you some water," Beast said alarmed at Pietro's pale sickly appearance. He jumped up and got a paper cup and turned to fill it with water from the sink on the other side of the room. Pietro felt nauseous, and his head pounded. He pressed his hands tightly against the side of his head trying to force out the pain he was feeling. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply in trying to calm himself.

"Here take this," Beast said offering Pietro the cup of water. When Pietro opened his eyes he saw that the room seemed to be spinning around him. He took the cup of water hoping that it would make him feel better, but when he opened his mouth to drink it he vomited on the floor.

"I'm sorry…" he tried to say, but the immense pain was making every word a struggle to get out. The lights seemed to fade around him and he saw Beast's worried face in front of him before he passed out.

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	12. All I've Got

Reviews make me so happy! Anyway, here's the next chapter.

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Pietro groaned when he opened his eyes. He was lying in one of the hospital beds and Lance, Wanda, and Toad were crowded around him.

"Jesus, he's awake. Pietro, you scared the shit out of me, I…"

"Lance! Give him some space," Wanda said. The three of them pulled back allowing the overhead lights to glare right into Pietro's face. He groaned again and covered his face with his hands.

"What happened?" he asked, struggling to remember the events that led him to this hospital bed.

"You fainted or something…Oh man, we're not here for a day and you already have everyone talking about you," Lance said looking at him in awe.

"That's not really a good thing…" Wanda mumbled. Pietro moved his hands from his face, and the cord from the IV brushed against his side. His eyes darted to the needle of the IV that was stuck into his vein. As Pietro suppressed his first impulse to rip the needle out of his skin, the memory of what happened flooded back to him in a rush. He knew he had some sort of a panic attack, which no doubt was from all the stress he was under.

"Pietro, what happened? Mr. McCoy didn't tell us anything except that you passed out." The look of concern on Wanda's face made Pietro smile, and when he looked at Lance and Toad and saw that they were worried too, he realized they really cared about him. For as long as he could remember he had always felt that it didn't matter to anyone if he was dead or alive, which wasn't always true. For some reason it took this moment for Pietro to see the bonds between him and his teammates.

"I don't know," Pietro lied, becoming interested in the fabric of the sheets so he wouldn't have to look at Wanda, "All I remember is sitting on that table and passing out." When he looked up at Wanda her expression was skeptical. She knew he was lying, but didn't say anything. The explanation was enough for Lance and Toad, though, they just looked happy that they didn't lose him. Pietro didn't want to unload all of the stuff with Magneto yet. They would be happier not knowing.

"What time is it?" Pietro asked, trying to draw attention away from himself.

"6:34," Toad said, looking at the new watch on his wrist. Ever since the fire, Toad didn't talk much, but nobody took the time to ask him about it yet. Pietro knew that the loss of Fred had messed Toad up, he could tell by just looking at him. Pietro would talk to him later, and maybe tell him to take up the therapy sessions Xavier had offered.

"Yeah, they already took us shopping and everything. We picked out some stuff for you so you won't look like a doofus at the dinner tonight," Lance said grinning.

"Dinner?" Pietro asked.

"Don't you remember? Us. X-Geeks. Food. Should be uh, you know…fun," Lance said rolling his eyes at the idea of having a civilized dinner with the X-Men.

"Oh yeah…" Pietro wondered if he could pretend to be sick so he wouldn't have to go.

"You're going right? You can't duck out of this one on me. We're gonna need to stick together," Lance acted like they were going into battle.

"Fine, I'm going."

"As long as you feel alright," Wanda insisted. Pietro laughed a little at the way Wanda was acting like she was his mom or something.

"I feel fine. Look at me, I'm great," Pietro said, sitting up and giving her a huge smile.

"Good, you better start getting ready. Dinner's at 7:00 in the dining hall," Lance said turning to leave to get himself ready. Toad followed him out, but Wanda stayed right where she was. The curtain rustled and then it was just her and Pietro. The only thing Pietro could hear was the drip of the IV and the beeping machines around them.

"Pietro, what's going on?" Wanda asked approaching him with her arms tucked around her sides. When Pietro didn't answer her she went on, "You look really bad, and it's not just from today. I know you haven't been eating, and you haven't slept at all. That's why Mr. McCoy said you were out for such a long time. Please say something. You can tell me."

"No, I can't," Pietro answered glaring down at his bed sheets.

"Please, I don't want to lose you. You're all that I've got, and I know I don't act like it but it's true. I don't have anybody else, so please tell me what's happening," Wanda insisted.

Pietro was silent for a minute, before he looked up at her sadly, "I can't tell you. Don't worry about me Wanda, I'll be ok," he said although he didn't even convince himself when he said that. Wanda pulled away from him, and although she turned from him, he could see tears glistening in her eyes.

"Fine, but Pietro if we can't talk to each other I don't know how we're going to get through this," she said bitterly. Pietro was sad to hear that she sounded like her old angry self again.

"Wanda, you have to understand, you wouldn't want to know," Pietro said.

"Don't treat me like a little kid! I can't believe you're doing this! I'm trying to change things, can't you see that? If you shut me out then it's all for nothing!" she yelled, her hands balling into fists. Objects in the room started to shake as her powers started to work, and the blue current poured from her hands. Pietro reached out to her, but she turned away angrily.

"I'll…I'll see you later!" Wanda's voice broke, and she pushed over a rolling cart by the wall with her powers on accident. The curtain swished behind her angrily as she left, and Pietro stared at the cart that had clattered to the floor, and all the papers that had been stacked on top of it were spread all over the floor. He sat quietly watching the wheels on the overturned cart spin, and wondered if he should have told her. He sighed, and looked at the stack of clothes on the side table by his bed. Pietro decided to get ready even though he wanted nothing more to lay in bed until everything wasn't complicated anymore. He knew this would never happen, though, so it was up to him to try to fix things.

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	13. Mirror Image

Sorry about the wait...hope you like the chapters! Oh and please review!

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Amazingly, Pietro was able to convince Beast that he felt well enough to go to the dinner. Even though Pietro wasn't in top shape, Beasts' desire to have things patched up between the X-Men and the Brotherhood was so strong he decided to let it slide. Soon Pietro found himself staring into the mirror of the bathroom he was getting ready in.

'Wanda was right,' he thought, he _did_ look terrible. He pressed at the dark circles under his eyes to see how deep they were, wondering how he hadn't seen this happening to himself. His complexion had faded to an ashen grey and there was no life in his once sparkling blue eyes. Pietro and Wanda both knew that the cause of his condition went farther back than the fire or even Fred's death. The reason Wanda was so angry was that she didn't know the reason, and Pietro knew what the problem was even though he denied it. The problem was that his father didn't care about him. At all. Not that this was the only problem, but everything that he had been through or done was connected to Magneto, so it was the best way to say it. In the beginning, after Magneto and Pietro had reunited, Pietro was willing to anything Magneto asked. He had hoped that his loyalty might bring them closer together, but soon it was clear that the only thing Magneto valued in his son was his mutant abilities. Even though Pietro realized this he kept fooling himself into thinking that every thing he did would be the last, and he would never go back if Magneto didn't appreciate him more. The fact that Magneto was capable of inflicting pain beyond measure didn't improve Pietro's ability to separate himself from his father. This was it though, he wasn't going back, and the Brotherhood would stay at the Institute and try to piece back together their lives.

'I should be happy,' Pietro thought to himself. He hadn't told the others about this yet, but he was sure they were going to agree. Pietro's only fear was that when Magneto realized that his plan had backfired, all the mansion's security and even Professor Xavier wouldn't be enough to stop Magneto's fury. Pietro tried his best not to think about this little detail, although ever since he smashed the comlink the thought had been lurking in the back of his mind. Instead Pietro thought about what he was going to do at dinner tonight. His first priority was to apologize to Wanda. He needed her friendship now more than ever, and they had been doing so well lately that it would be a shame for Wanda to hate him again. What he hadn't thought about yet was how he was going to act around the X-Men. Should he be friendly? Would that seem too fake? Should he even talk at all? Pietro's mind spun with these questions as he gave himself a final once-over in the mirror, pulling at the clothes the Brotherhood had picked out for him, and running his hand through his hair one last time. He was wearing dark faded jeans, a loose fitting black sweater, and black converse sneakers. In the past he would never wear clothes that fit like this, he needed to be able to move quickly, and to do this he needed clothes that were more aerodynamic, but now he used his powers so rarely it seemed ridiculous to care anymore. Even so he exited the bathroom a little too quickly for a human to look at the clock in the hallway. 7:05.

'Showtime,' he thought as he started to head for the dining hall, and in spite of everything he smiled. Who knows? Maybe it would be fun.

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	14. Getting To Know You

Here's the next chapter too. It's a lot longer than the last one...YAY!

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Unsure of what to expect, Pietro walked through the entryway of the dining hall to see the Brotherhood standing on one side of the table, and the X-Men on the other. It didn't look like things were starting off well. When he entered the room all eyes shifted over to him, except for Wanda's who was busy scowling at the floor. Lance waved at him and Pietro walked over to his side.

"I thought you weren't gonna show," Lance whispered, keeping his eyes on Scott who was giving him a particularly evil look although you couldn't see his eyes behind deep red sunglasses.

"Yeah, I…"

"Children! This is ridiculous! I would have thought that you would at least greet each other while I was gone," Storm ranted, waving the clipboard in her hand around as she entered the room. Her long white hair tumbled down her shoulders, and she looked very professional in her purple pant suit…except for all that makeup she always wears.

"Now, a seating chart was made to solve the problem of sitting in your usual groups. We are all in one group now, under one roof, so it's best if you start getting used to each other." Storm decided to ignore everyone's groans of protest, and started to read off the seating arrangements.

She started over by the chair on the edge of the table, "Rogue you sit here." Rogue silently sat down in her chair keeping her eyes on the table. All the staring was making her uncomfortable.

"Wanda, right here," Storm said moving to the next chair. Pietro was surprised; this wasn't a bad idea. With all the negativity between the two of them he figured they would get along just fine.

"Kitty, come sit here," Storm pointed to the seat next to Wanda. Kitty was wearing light denim jeans, and a red long-sleeved knit shirt. Pietro glanced at Lance and saw that he was longingly staring at his ex-girlfriend. It was obvious to Pietro that Lance still had feelings for her even though he would never admit it.

"Pietro, next to Kitty."

Pietro didn't dare to look at Lance as he made his way to his seat. When Pietro sat down Kitty looked up at him, and he gave her a small smile, only to get an angry glare in return. Pietro tried to remember what he had done to her to deserve that look. The only thing he could think of was ages ago when he was arrested and she and Rogue had saved him…oh. Pietro mentally punched himself for being such an asshole. That wasn't exactly his finest hour, but now he realized in that one glare that had so much hatred behind it that there was no way he was going to be able to make friends with this girl. As he was thinking someone took the chair beside him. Pietro looked up to see Kurt sit down beside him.

'Great,' he thought, sighing softly to himself. This was going to be tough. Soon enough the six seats on Pietro's side of the table were filled as Scott took the seat next to Kurt. On the other side of the table Storm sat Jean in the seat across from Rogue, and Toad in the seat next to her. The two of them were complete opposites, and just sitting next to Toad was making Jean nauseous; Pietro could tell from the greenish hue that had swept across her face.

"Auntie O! This is so wak!" Evan whined from his seat. Storm had seated him in between Toad and Lance. There were murmurs of agreement from the other X-Men, but Storm silenced them with one icy glare.

"The professor thinks that the best way to keep the peace while we are all living together is to forget past rivalries. You need to forget everything you think you know about the person sitting next to you, no matter how terrible the things they've done are," Storm said directing an icy look straight at Pietro. Pietro shifted uncomfortably in his chair under her stare.

"Think of it like you have never met each other before and this get together is a little 'getting to know you' party." Evan sighed loudly at his aunt's speech.

"Evan I don't care whether or not you agree with this, we all have to do this whether we like it or not," Storm snapped, "Now, Beast has written down some ideas for you to talk about. Would anyone like to share some of their hobbies with us?" Pietro wondered why Storm had been chosen to preside over this event; it looked like she would rather be doing anything else besides this.

"This is so stupid, everyone knows all _they_ do is sit around and smoke weed," Evan quipped sitting back in his chair with his hands crossed behind his head. The other X-Men snickered, and Evan grinned confidently, which was funny because if he had looked at Lance it would have wiped that stupid smirk of his face in a heartbeat. Pietro could tell that it was taking all of Lance's self-control to not smash Evan's head into the table. He was getting that fierce look he always did right before he hit somebody, Pietro knew because he had been on the receiving end of that look a few times. It wasn't pretty.

Storm rolled her eyes at Evan's comment, and tried to continue, "Anybody else? Wanda, is there anything you would like to share?"

Wanda, who had been whispering back and forth with Rogue, shook her head before continuing her quiet conversation with Rogue. When Pietro noticed this he was glad that at least she had found someone to talk to. His own options weren't looking too bright; Kitty and Kurt refused to even glance in his general direction.

"Hey…" Evan said suddenly looking around the table, "Where's the fat-ass?" Toad immediately stood up and left the room. Pietro couldn't believe that he had forgotten why he had hated Evan. From his stupid haircut to his cocky attitude there was just so much to choose from, and now he had upset Toad who really didn't need any help in that department these days.

"Hey Daniels, why don't you all do us a favor and shut your big mouth?" Pietro said. How could Xavier have thought that putting the X-Men and the Brotherhood in the same room was a good idea? Evan was taken aback at Pietro's sudden outburst. It was like he thought that because they were living in _his_ house Pietro would have kept his mouth shut.

"Oh yeah…well…why don't you…"

"Evan, why don't you just go to your room, you're making this quite impossible," Storm said while she massaged her temples, trying to fight off the headache she felt coming on. This whole thing was a disaster and they hadn't even gotten to the food yet.

"But…"

"Evan, just go," Jean said dropping her head into her hands.

"Fine! It's not like I wanted to be here anyway!" Evan stormed off to his room to think of some better comebacks. Once he had left the room, everyone sat in silence waiting to see what would happen next.

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	15. Just Like the Old Days

Thank you to everyone who reviewed, and I'm sorry if I haven't replied to you yet. My computer's been acting up. Please read and review if you like it.

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Pietro laid his head facedown on the table, sighing as loudly and obnoxiously as he could. Because his head was down he couldn't see Kurt and Kitty's annoyed glares. They didn't say anything though, because Pietro was only helping them. Since Storm had left the room to get the food or more likely to get away, Kurt and Kitty had been trying to talk to each other from behind Pietro's back. Now that he was out of the way they were free to have a normal conversation.

"Man, I'm stahving," Kurt whined.

"Me too…"

"No I'm really hungry. I think I could even eat one of your muffins I'm so hungry."

"You jerk! It's not my fault I can't cook!" Kitty reached over to hit Kurt playfully, but he pulled back so she couldn't reach him.

"Ha, you missed! I think you need to work on your aim some, too. It's almost worse than your cooking."

"You are like, so dead!" Kitty yelled, picking up her spoon and throwing it at Kurt. This time she didn't miss. The spoon hit Kurt lightly on the shoulder, and she grinned happily.

"Ouch, seriously Kitty, that hurt," he said rubbing his shoulder. Pietro sighed loudly again propping his chin on his forearms. He wasn't sure how much more of their stupid behavior he could take. What did Lance see in this Kitty anyway? She was just another bimbo at Bayville High, which wasn't an uncommon thing to be. Pietro had enough experience with these girls to know that they were all the same.

"Something wrong Maximoff?" Scott asked dangerously from behind Kurt's back. Pietro lifted his head and locked eyes with the older mutant.

"Oh of course not Summers. How could there be? I'm just enjoying sitting in between dumb and dumber over here, that's all." No one smiled and Kitty pouted, sitting back in her chair. Pietro knew instantly that he had said the wrong thing, which was easy to do in this place, and he could see Scott's hands balling into fists as he clenched his teeth. Not that he cared, Pietro didn't give a shit if anyone here liked him or not, but he felt a pang in his stomach when he saw that Wanda was looking at him sadly. She thought he was screwing everything up, as usual, and she was probably right.

The four of them had talked about keeping mostly to themselves with an 'only speak when spoken to' attitude to show how appreciative they were of Xavier's kindness, and Pietro had just thrown that idea out the window. Pietro was acting like he always did around the X-Men, nothing had changed, like Wanda had apparently hoped it would. It wasn't like Pietro had wanted to try, but if the way Evan had acted was any sign of things to come then it wasn't going to be easy. Pietro wasn't ready to let his old enemy walk all over him, whatever was given to him Pietro was going to give right back. Just like the old days.

Whatever Wanda wanted him to be he wasn't going to be unless the X-Men grew up and stopped being so immature about what had happened and started thinking about what was going to happen now that they were living together. Obviously the meeting Xavier held hadn't stressed this enough, or else nobody was paying attention because the X-Men's views on the Brotherhood hadn't changed one bit.

"Hello everyone, are you all ready to eat?" Beast asked cheerfully as he wheeled a cart stacked with food into the room. Storm was nowhere to be seen. It seemed she had decided to opt out of the evening festivities after all. The tension filled silence broke as hot plates of food began to fill the table. Pietro took no notice of the food however, he was to busy looking at Lance. Lance's brow was furrowed in deep concentration, and he was violently putting food on his plate. Pietro tried to get his attention, but Lance refused to look up. Pietro reasoned that this was because he was on the same side of the table as Scott, but he could tell that Lance was pissed at him. Again. This made Pietro realize how badly he had messed up. Everyone else had been able to keep quiet; Lance had shown self-control that Pietro never knew he had, so why hadn't Pietro been able to keep his mouth shut? He was only making it easier for the hating to keep going between the two groups.

'Fine,' he thought. He was going to try, if that's what it would take for Wanda and Lance to talk to him again.

"So Kurt…how's school going?" he asked, trying to keep the tone of his voice neutral. Kurt's eyes opened wide, and he dropped the bread roll he was eating in shock.

"Vhat?" Kurt asked, not sure if he was imagining things or not.

"I said how's school going? You know, how's life going for you?" Pietro said with a shrug. He couldn't quite understand how the X-Men could be so dramatic over the little things, and then turn around and save the world like it was no big deal. Pietro remembered one time in particular when he and Rogue had said hi when they passed each other in the hall, and he saw Scott pull her aside and talk to her like she was a traitor for just waving at someone she used to live with. It was unbelievable really, how immature they could be, Scott and Evan in particular.

"I…I guess it's alright," Kurt said regaining his composure. He was now looking at Pietro suspiciously, like if he said the wrong thing Pietro would attack him without warning.

"Hmm, interesting…Kitty, how about you?" Pietro asked, as he reached across the table and pulled the bowl of mashed potatoes over to himself. He couldn't remember the last thing he had eaten, but he hadn't noticed how hungry he was until now, and he began to pile them onto his plate. While he was doing this he happened to glance over at Wanda who flashed him a small smile. At least she was happy.

"Pietro, like, what are you playing at? First you call us names and now you're talking to us like we're friends," Kitty said, looking straight at Pietro as if that would help her see through whatever he was trying to do.

"Just being friendly. Since we're living together and everything we might as well get along," he answered when he knew Beast was in earshot and could hear everything. When Pietro made sure that Beast was looking in their direction he put his arms around Kitty and Kurt and smiled widely. Beast looked like he might die of happiness.

'This is too easy,' Pietro thought, taking his arms off an utterly confused Kurt and Kitty so he could eat. If he could keep this up then maybe the X-Men would leave them alone, so they could take this opportunity to have happiness and stability in their lives while keeping Xavier happy. After all, it was worth a shot.

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	16. The Confession

The people who review rule. I'm serious, you're awesome. Ok I'm trying to make the chapters longer, so please read and I hope you like it.

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After the dinner was over, Beast instructed all the students to go straight back to their rooms. It was 9:00 and as Beast explained, this was curfew. When everyone was filing out of the dining room, Pietro rushed to catch up to Lance, but knocked into Scott on accident who had stopped to wait for Jean.

"Oops, sorry," Pietro said distractedly, before he could stop himself.

"You _will_ be sorry," Scott muttered, looking past him at Jean.

"Ooo scary Summers, I'm shaking," Pietro said with a grin before running to catch Lance who had already passed through the doorway. When he was next to Lance he punched him lightly on the shoulder.

"Hey, that wasn't so bad, was it?" Pietro asked, falling in stride with his friend. Everyone started to make their way up the staircase, talking quietly so Beast wouldn't get mad at them for waking up anyone. Lance shrugged and didn't make eye contact with Pietro.

"C'mon Lance, you're not seriously mad at me, are you?" Lance gave him a troubled look like he was deciding whether he should be or not.

"…I guess not. It's just hard, you know? Being here with them…with her."

Pietro nodded in agreement, "When I think about it now, it was all so stupid when we were fighting, but it made sense because it was the only thing we knew how to do."

"I know…you're right about Evan being an asshole. I hate to say it, but he's almost worse than Scott. Talking about Fred in front of Todd…I can't believe he did that."

"Yeah, Toad's been acting weird lately, though. He doesn't talk anymore."

Lance nodded, "Fred dying really messed him up. They were like best friends."

"We should talk to him, you know, make sure he's ok," Pietro said. Checking up on Toad was something he had wanted to do for a while now.

"I'm rooming with him, you wanna come?" Lance asked. They had reached the top of the stairs and were facing the corridor where everyone's rooms were. No one was talking anymore as they went into their rooms, and Lance and Pietro were left standing by themselves.

"Yeah…"

Lance and Pietro approached the room in the dimly lit corridor, and the silence weighed in around them. Only the gentle whir of the air conditioner and the ticking of a clock could be heard. Lance reached out to grab the doorknob, but pulled his hand away when he heard something coming from inside. He beckoned to Pietro and they both leaned against the door, trying to listen in. Someone was mumbling and there was an odd scraping sound. Pietro locked eyes with Lance and saw that he was nervous too. Before he could say anything to stop him, Lance turned the doorknob and pushed open the door.

"Holy shit!" Lance yelled when they entered the room. No lights were on, but the moonlight coming through the window illuminated a dark figure on the ground.

"It's my fault…all my fault…" Toad was muttering. He was sitting on the floor, rocking back and forth, his large yellow eyes wide and disturbed. He had a large knife in his hand that he kept scraping the metal frame of his bed with. When Pietro got further into the room he saw blood on the knife's edge, glittering in the moonlight cast through the curtains.

"Todd! What the fuck are you doing?" Pietro asked. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest as he started to panic.

"It's my fault he's dead!" Toad cried out at them, shutting his eyes tightly, as if that would make everything go away.

"Shhh, no it's not," Pietro said nervously, walking up to Toad slowly, trying not to make any sudden movements that would startle him.

"YES IT IS!" Toad yelled at Pietro, as he looked up at him suddenly, his face contorted with rage. "It's my fault! I did it! I started the fire! I _killed_ him! I killed him! I didn't mean to! I just couldn't take it anymore!"

"Wh-what?" Pietro asked weakly, taking a step back. He couldn't believe what he was hearing and it looked like Lance couldn't either. Lance's face was so pale he looked he looked worse than Pietro, and he hadn't moved from where he was standing, his gaze transfixed on Toad. Pietro was trying to think of what to do next when the door burst open and Logan and Beast rushed in.

"What's going on in here?" Logan growled, flicking on the lights, "I could hear you kids from…what the?"

"Oh dear God…" Beast whispered. Toad didn't seem to notice them enter, he just kept on muttering to himself, rocking even more violently back and forth. He had dropped the knife on the ground and now that the lights were on Pietro could see little cuts all over his forearms. They didn't look very deep, but there were tiny spots of blood on the carpet around him.

"Hank, go get Chuck, I'll stay here," Logan said stepping carefully next to where Pietro was standing. Beast nodded and backed out of the room.

"What happened?" Logan asked as soon as he was gone.

"We just came in and he was like this," Pietro answered. Lance was unable to speak, so he just sat down on the bed opposite Toad's.

"Hey kid…" Logan said softly as he bent down and cautiously reached out to Toad. Toad's muttering stopped and he whimpered quietly when Logan got close to him.

"I didn't mean to kill him. He was my best friend," he whispered, staring at the floor so he wouldn't have to look at anyone. The room was silent. Nobody knew what to say, so it was a relief when the Professor and Beast entered the room. Xavier's gaze was only focused on Toad as he wheeled over to him.

"Todd, Todd I need you to listen to me. Everything is going to be fine, but I need you to come with me now," he said gently, placing a hand on Toad's shoulder.

Toad looked up at him with watery eyes, "Ok…" He pushed himself off the ground with Logan's help and went to follow Xavier.

"Ya want me to go with ya? Just in case?" Logan asked Xavier as he helped Toad.

"No, that will not be necessary Logan. Todd will be just fine, but Hank I would like you to come with me, it looks like Mr. Tolensky may need some medical attention," Xavier answered as he exited the room. Beast nodded and followed them out of the room, so just Lance, Pietro, and Logan were left.

"Uhh, I'll see you two at breakfast," Logan said awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck. When no one answered him, he left the room without another room. Lance started to climb under his covers, and Pietro took this as a sign that he wanted him to leave so Pietro too left the room.

As soon as he shut the door behind him, Pietro sighed tiredly. Would nothing ever go right for them? Every time he turned around something terrible was happening. It had always been like this, Pietro couldn't remember the last time he was truly happy. It was like there had been a big, black cloud lingering over his head since the day he was born.

He opened the door to his room, and saw that Wanda was already in bed. She sat up when he came in, and he could feel her eyes examining every inch of him to see if she could figure out anything before he opened his mouth to talk.

"Well?" she asked when it seemed she had decided she couldn't figure it out herself.

Pietro shook his head and flopped down on his bed, "Can't talk about it right now."

"Fine," Wanda grumbled lying back down to go to sleep. She knew she would find out in the morning.

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	17. Thinking

Huzzah! Over 50 reviews! I never thought this day would come! Just kidding, but seriously I love those of you who review. This chapter's a little more mellow than the last one, and yes an explanation for Toad's craziness will be coming along with a funeral for Blob.

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The grey sunshine that streamed through the curtains onto Pietro's face caused him to stir the next morning. He sat up groggily, rubbing the sleep from his eyes before glancing at the digital clock that sat on the dresser. 11:05. Pietro couldn't remember the last time he had slept this long, it was getting harder and harder every time he laid his head down on his pillow. Night was the time he did most of his thinking, and some of the things he thought of would keep him up for hours, but today was different. He had decided to not think about anything, and to pretend things never happened until someone brought them up. He had used this strategy in the past and he wondered why it had taken him so long to think of it again. That was simple, it was because he dropped out of school, he didn't have anything to distract himself with, and so his mind would get bored and start thinking again. Thinking was bad from Pietro's point of view, especially when it came to thinking about the past. Best to keep your chin up and pretend to be happy…but Pietro was never happy. How could he be? What did he have in life? Friends? Not really. Family? Family…that was funny. Yes he and Wanda were getting closer as she was slowly bringing down the walls that kept them apart for so long, but Magneto…? He was the worst excuse for a father anyone could ask for unless the world was turned upside down and ruthless dictators were suddenly considered perfect father figures. Not likely…no it was going to be better like this. Pietro was sure. As long as he didn't think anything, or about how last night Toad had admitted to setting the fire that had caused Fred's death and the destruction of their house, and was now contemplating suicide…no this was bad. Thinking was bad. 

He looked over at Wanda's bed and saw that she was gone and her bed was made. After deciding that it would be impossible for him to sleep any longer, he got out of bed and threw the top sheet over it haphazardly. He ran a hand through his messy silver hair before grabbing some clothes of the pile on the dresser. With a pair of light baggy jeans and a dark blue t-shirt in hand he went to go take a shower. As soon as he left the room it was obvious that most everyone else was awake from all the noise. On his way to the bathroom Pietro noticed Jubilee and another girl he didn't recognize talking excitedly to each other in the hallway. When he passed by them Jubilee pointed at him and whispered something to the other girl. Pietro decided to ignore this and continued on to the showers. There was no wait since everyone was already up, and with the help of his powers Pietro was in and out in a little over two minutes.

When he arrived in the kitchen he found Logan sitting at the table, hunched over a newspaper, and a cup of straight black coffee in his hands. He looked up and grunted at Pietro to show that he acknowledged his presence before going back to his newspaper. Pietro decided that Logan wasn't exactly a morning person so he didn't say anything back. It wasn't until he had sat down with a bowl of Cookie Crisp and a glass of orange juice that Logan actually spoke.

"Rough night, huh?" he asked gruffly, not taking his eyes off the newspaper.

"Yeah," Pietro answered as he started to eat.

"Mornin'" Lance grumbled shuffling into the kitchen. Pietro noticed that Lance, unlike himself, hadn't had such an easy time getting to sleep last night. He wondered why Lance had opted to stay in that room last night, with Toad's blood on the carpet and all it wasn't a pretty picture. Lance sat down next to Pietro and it looked like it was taking all of the energy he had to open the pop-tarts he had grabbed most unceremoniously from the cupboard.

"So what happened to Todd?" Pietro asked casually, like it was the most normal question anyone could ask.

"You'd have to talk to the Prof about that. The last I heard they're keeping him in medical, so they can monitor him. Make sure he doesn't try anything funny," Logan answered. Pietro was surprised at how much Logan had changed. Xavier must have really threatened him because Logan would never have had his conversation with Pietro before. Or he was just feeling sorry for them, or maybe Logan wasn't such a bad guy after all…

"Oh," Pietro said concentrating on his cereal. He shouldn't have asked that, of course they would put Todd in medical, but Pietro had secretly feared that they might have sent him to a crazy house after the way he acted last night.

The three of them finished breakfast without saying another word. Pietro was just getting up from the table when it suddenly dawned on him that he had nothing to do today.

"Uh, Logan…sir?" he asked.

"What is it kid? By the way don't call me sir, Logan is just fine."

"Ok, uh, what is it we're supposed to do?"

"I don't know, go play with the other kids or something. They already finished their morning training so they're just goofing off right now. They have lessons around noon and then lunch, and there's one more training session at night. I think it was Chuck's wish that the two of you go to class with 'em eventually anyway," Logan stood up and folded the newspaper under his arm.

"Uh, sure," Pietro said looking at Lance to see if he would go too.

"You know something?" Logan asked, taking a long look at Pietro.

"What?" Pietro asked.

"For being Magneto's kid and all, you're not half bad," he said.

"Oh," Pietro answered. He was pretty sure he was meant to take that as a compliment.

"Well I'll be seeing you two around," Logan said, before leaving the kitchen. Lance watched until Logan was gone for sure, before he stood up too.

"So, what're we gonna do?" he asked.

"I don't know…let's go check on Todd," Pietro answered.

"Good. I was afraid you would say we should go hang out with the X-Geeks," Lance said thankfully, throwing his half-eaten pop-tarts in the trash. Pietro grinned and he and Lance left the kitchen to go find their friend.

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	18. The Reason

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As they walked through the foyer, Pietro noticed that Lance's eyes kept darting over to the glass front doors of the mansion. Through it he could see a big group of students chasing each other around with a football.

"So, do you know where Wanda is?" Pietro asked, trying to pull Lance's attention away from a certain brunette who was giggling wildly.

"…Huh?"

"Lance, admit it already. You still care about her," Pietro said with a smirk.

"What? No! No, I don't," Lance said unconvincingly. He didn't look outside again.

"Whatever…so, have you seen Wanda?" Pietro decided to change the subject for Lance's sake.

Lance shrugged, "I bet she's with Rogue or something. They look like they get along."

"Yeah," Pietro answered plainly. They had passed from the foyer into the hallway that led to Medical. When they reached the door, Pietro tried to peek through the window on the door, but he couldn't see anything. He opened the door, and they both heard someone speaking softly from behind the curtain. Pietro walked over and pulled it back, fearing the worst, to see that Todd was set up in one of the hospital beds. Thankfully, the person talking was Xavier, who appeared to be saying something encouraging to Todd. Maybe it was just the gentle tone of his voice, but it looked to Pietro like whatever was being said was having an impact on Todd. Todd looked somewhat fresh-faced and he was the closest to smiling he had been in days. As Pietro and Lance walked further into the room, Pietro was shocked to see Wanda sitting on the other side of Todd. She looked genuinely concerned and didn't notice Pietro or Lance until Xavier brought the attention to them. She did care about Todd after all, even if she would never admit it.

"Ah, Mr. Alvers. Mr. Maximoff," he said, nodding his bald head at each of them as he said their names, "I should have known that the two of you would find your way in here." He smiled his usual unassuming smile at them that made the corners of his eyes crinkle. That smile never failed to throw Pietro off-guard. It was so honest and full of good intentions that Pietro couldn't help but trust him. He didn't understand how Xavier managed it though, how could someone put so much faith in four teens with such a rough history? When Pietro was in Xavier's presence he was at a loss. Xavier had no ulterior motives or hidden agendas; he was providing them a roof over their heads and hadn't once asked for anything in return. Amazing. Of course after being Magneto's son for so long Pietro had forgotten that there was such a thing as good people in the world.

"Yeah, we wanted to check up on Todd," Lance said.

"Yes, well, Mr. Tolensky is doing considerably better, but I'm sure he'll want to explain everything that happened himself," Xavier said, "I'll leave you four to sort things out amongst yourselves. Excuse me." He wheeled past Lance and Pietro and was about to pass through the curtain when Todd called out to him.

"Wait," Todd said suddenly.

Xavier paused and turned to look at Todd curiously, "Yes?"

"Could you stay? I think it'd be…I don't know…it'd be easier if you were here."

"Of course," Xavier answered politely, returning to Todd's side. Xavier gestured to two chairs that were against the wall and Lance and Pietro pulled them over to Todd's bedside and took a seat. Pietro squirmed a little in his seat, and his eyes started to dart around the room. He wasn't sure if he wanted to, or was ready, to hear whatever Todd had to say.

"I just…I just couldn't take it anymore," Todd started, his eyes focused on his knobby knees that were laid out in front of him. He picked a little at his bandaged forearms before continuing, "It was the same thing every day. Y'all know. I was going crazy, no one ever talked to me except Fred. Nothing cool was happenin' no more. Not since Mystique bailed on us. Something had to happen, so when Pietro came home with news that we could be living somewhere else I knew we had to go. No one really wanted to though, and I wanted all of us to go. Not for Magneto or anything, but so we could all start someplace new. So…" Todd took a deep breath. Telling them all of this was taking everything he had, "I set the fire. I just…I didn't know what else ta do. I didn't mean to hurt nobody, and I never meant to kill Fred. It was a mistake. A stupid mistake…" With these last few words Todd's eyes watered over with tears.

The room was silent. Pietro had no idea what to say. What Todd had done was selfish, but he couldn't help but feel a little sorry for him. Lance on the other hand looked like he was trying to seem calmer than he really was. Wanda sat emotionless, her body rigid. They all knew that Todd was right about one thing: something did have to happen, Pietro just wasn't sure if a fire burning down their house and killing Fred was this thing.

"Well," Xavier said once he was sure that no one had anything to say to Todd, "Why don't we let Mr. Tolensky get some rest?"

Wanda nodded and she, Lance, and Pietro got up and followed Xavier out of the room without saying a word to Todd.

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	19. Return of the Skank

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Long periods of silence were becoming a lot more commonplace for the Brotherhood as they waited for Professor Xavier outside of Medical. The three of them just stared at the ground until the door opened and Xavier wheeled out. He crossed his hands in front of his chin as he examined each of their troubled faces.

He sighed before saying, "I am truly sorry and I know you all are quite aware of the complexity of your situation, but I'm afraid there's another problem. I don't know if any of you have watched the news lately?"

The three of them shook their heads.

"Hmm, well, fires tend to make the news and since quite a few people were aware that your home was a mutant residence and there was a death…well, let's just say there hasn't been much talk of anything else lately. There has been much speculation to the cause of the fire, some say it was anti-mutant groups trying to get their point across, others think it was just an accident, but your friend Todd just admitted to starting the fire that caused Mr. Dukes death. To some people, Mr. Tolensky would be considered…a murderer," Xavier paused for a moment to let all of this sink in. Pietro couldn't believe it; Todd, a murderer. This must have been why Toad had been acting so strange lately. Whichever way you looked at it, he was ultimately the reason Fred had died.

Xavier continued, "I'm not sure what to do about this at the moment, but Todd has gladly volunteered to turn himself in. I don't know if the any of you agree with that or if it's in his best interests right now, so he'll be in recovery for at least a week to think it over. Also, he requested that some sort of memorial to be held in honor of Mr. Dukes. I would be happy to arrange this for him if the three of you don't mind."

They shook their heads no again.

"Good, I'll get started on that. If I'm not mistaken it's just about lunchtime, so if you would like to join the others students in the kitchen, it would make Ms. Munroe very happy. She's been meaning to apologize for her behavior the other day, and don't worry, she's an excellent cook. I think she's making grilled cheese sandwiches and soup," Xavier said as he turned to go find Beast to discuss Todd.

"Well, are we going?" Lance asked as soon as Xavier was gone. Pietro nodded as he started to make his way to the kitchen. Of course they were going. Pietro loved grilled cheese sandwiches.

Upon entering the kitchen, Pietro could feel himself cringe a little. It was bustling with most of the student population, all of whom turned and stared when the Brotherhood walked in. Pietro decided it was time to start making some more 'friends' so he smoothed back his hair and pasted a friendly grin on his face. He walked over and sat down in an empty seat next to a grumpy looking new recruit with dark curly hair.

"Hey, how's it going?" Pietro asked him politely, "I'm Pietro what's your name?"

Lance, Wanda, and the new recruit stared at Pietro like he was insane. The new recruit looked like he was deciding on whether this should be making him mad or if he should answer this crazy looking teen with silver hair and wide blue eyes.

"Never mind," Pietro said before the kid could make up his mind, "Lance I think you should sit here. You two would probably get along." Pietro jumped out of his seat and started scanning the table for another empty seat. Pietro knew that if looks could kill he would be dead right now, from the glare Lance was shooting straight at him. He _hated _being put on the spot like that, but he kept his mouth shut and took the seat, knowing that Kitty was watching his every move from her seat halfway down the table. Pietro found a seat next to another new recruit who had blonde hair with a few long orange spikes sticking out over his forehead. Pietro looked around and saw that Kitty had moved down a seat so that Wanda could sit next to Rogue.

'Good,' he thought to himself. Things were going ok, and it wasn't completely awkward.

"Hey, I'm Ray," the new recruit said to Pietro with a grin. His voice was raspy and friendly at the same time, and he held out his hand to shake Pietro's.

"Hi, Pietro," Pietro answered shaking his hand. Ray only looked about a year younger than Pietro; he must be one of the older new recruits. Conversations started up again all over the table, and Pietro began to feel slightly more comfortable until a familiar blonde took the empty seat next to him.

"No way! This is too funny!" Tabitha said with a laugh.

"Hi, Tabitha," Pietro said with a sigh. He had been afraid that Tabitha still lived here, but he hadn't been sure until now.

"Whatsa matter Speedy? Aren't you happy to see me?" she asked in that annoyingly playful tone that Pietro had grown to hate over months of living in the same house as her. No in fact, he was not happy to see her. Pietro couldn't have been happier than he was the day she left. At first he found her loud, abrasive behavior cute, just like most every guy did, but Tabitha was not an easy person to live with. Sure he had a lot of fun with her, when she first moved in, but her routine got old pretty quick.

"Tabby, you know him?" Ray asked her, when Pietro didn't answer. This question made Pietro wonder if they were a couple or not. Not that he really cared or anything.

"Of course I know him, I used to live with him, remember?"

"Oh yeah…" Ray said thoughtfully. Pietro looked across the table at Lance who was looking at Tabitha.

'Oh no,' Pietro thought. Lance had always had kind of a crush on Tabitha and it looked like he was starting to rekindle these feelings.

"Speedy talk to me, I mean, how long has it been since we saw each other?" Tabitha asked.

"Not long enough," Pietro muttered under his breath.

"What?" she asked.

"I said I don't know," Pietro said, he noticed that this whole conversation was making Ray uncomfortable. Pietro decided that he had to be her boyfriend at the moment, and it made Pietro feel sorry for him; Ray seemed like a nice guy. Before Tabitha could say anything else, Storm walked into the room with a tray of grilled cheese sandwiches, and she was followed by Evan who was pushing a cart stacked with bowls of soup. Pietro sighed thankfully. His conversation with Tabitha would have to wait until he was finished eating.

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	20. Don't Cry Over Spilled Soup

Thank you to everyone who is taking the time to read and review this story. I probably said this before, but you guys are what keeps this story going. :)

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Storm sat the large tray on the table with a flourish and smiled warmly at all of the students. All except Pietro that is. It seemed as if Xavier's guarantee that Storm wanted to apologize didn't extend to Pietro. She leaned over and said something to Jean as her nephew steered around her. 

Evan was grumbling to himself as he pushed the soup cart around the table, placing a bowl of soup at everyone's place. Pietro guessed that he was being punished for the way he had acted at the dinner the other night, because Evan didn't seem like the type who volunteered to help out all the time. When he got to Pietro he plunked the bowl down a little less violently than he would have liked, but he still managed to splash soup all over the front of Pietro's shirt.

"Eat up Maximoff," Evan hissed quietly, so as not to draw Storm's attention to what he was doing, "I made yours _special_."

Tabitha and Ray, however, saw exactly what Evan was doing, and were glaring at him angrily.

"What d'you think you're doing man?" Ray asked. He didn't like to see anyone get messed with, and Evan wasn't very high on his list of favorite people. He obviously didn't know Pietro at all though, because Pietro couldn't understand why anyone would want to stick up for him.

"Yeah jackass, why don't you…" Tabitha started to say before Pietro held up his hand to stop her. He could take care of this himself, although he appreciated them wanting to help him out. He sighed and tried to brush off his shirt with his napkin before he turned in his chair to face Evan. Evan had a smug look on his face, as if he was daring Pietro to do something. Both Tabitha and Ray were watching him intently to see what would happen.

"Oh Daniels," Pietro sighed, shaking his head and smiling in disbelief as if he was dealing with an immature child, "This has _got_ to be your feeblest pick up attempt yet. To be honest, you're starting to look really pathetic."

Evan gaped at Pietro like he couldn't believe what he was hearing. By now a few of the other students at the table, including Lance, had noticed something going on at Pietro's part of the table, and were starting to lean closer in so they could hear.

Pietro continued, "I'm sorry Daniels, I just don't sway that way. Now you better get back over to your precious Auntie O, _I think she's looking for you_." Pietro whispered the last sentence, before turning back around swiftly in his chair. Evan just stood where he was, his mouth opening and closing like he was trying to say something, anything. Storm walked over to where he was, sensing that something was going on.

"Evan dear, are you alright?" she asked, putting a hand on his shoulder, and giving the back of Pietro's head a dirty look. Pietro pretended like they weren't there and started playing with his fork and spoon innocently.

"I'm fine," Evan grumbled pulling away from Storm sharply. The whole room watched as he stormed out of the kitchen.

"Evan, where are you going?" Storm demanded.

"My room," Evan yelled back, slamming the door behind him. Pietro knew he would pay dearly for this exchange, but he didn't really care. Evan was being stupid and immature, and there was nothing he could do that could bother Pietro in the slightest. He was over the whole rivalry thing, and he hoped that Evan would realize that it didn't matter anymore, before he did something he would really regret.

Once Evan had left, Pietro felt free to start eating. He did his best to mop up the mess left by the soup, and reached over to grab a sandwich. Chatter started up all around the table again as everyone started to eat. Pietro was unaware that Tabitha was still staring at him, and ate as quickly as he could.

"How do you do it?" she asked him after a few moments.

"What?" Pietro asked, thinking that she was referring to the way he was eating.

"Put up with that. Evan I mean. I think I would've socked him," she explained, as she filled her own plate.

"It doesn't matter to me," he shrugged. Although Ray was eating, Pietro could tell he was listening to every word of their conversation.

"Oh…you know what Speedy? You're one in a million," Tabitha said before cramming the whole of her sandwich into her mouth. Pietro didn't look at her after he said this, figuring it would be best to ignore her comment entirely while he was still in the presence of her boyfriend. Lance laughed suddenly, from across the table, at the sight of Tabitha with her mouth so full she could hardly chew. Once she had managed to swallow the mass of food in her mouth, she flashed Lance a huge smile.

"Hey Lance, it's been a while since I've seen you around," she said.

"You mean since the last time you stole my jeep?" Lance corrected with a small smile.

"Same difference," Tabitha answered, rolling her eyes, "Hey are you guys going to show up for the training session tonight? It's going to be a blast, right Ray?"

Ray looked up and nodded, happy to be part of the conversation,"Yeah, you have to come. We're gonna scrimmage tonight." Ray rubbed his hands together and exchanged an evil smile with Tabitha.

"Scrimmage?" Pietro asked curiously.

"It's awesome. They split us into teams, and we use our powers to fight each other on missions and stuff," Tabitha explained excitedly.

"And you get to kick some serious ass," Ray added.

"So, are you going to be there?" Tabitha asked.

"Yeah, we sure are," Lance answered before Pietro could say anything. Pietro gave Lance a reproachful look. He wasn't sure if this was the best idea, especially if Evan and Scott were going to be there.

"Awesome," Tabitha said happily, high-fiving Lance from across the table. Pietro sighed, knowing that Lance wasn't going to let him back out of this for anything if Tabitha was going.

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	21. Scrimmage

Can you believe it? I'm not dead! My computer is though...sniff. Sorry about how long this took, but with school ending and my computer's death there wasn't much I could do. I hope you can find it in your hearts to forgive me and review this next chapter.

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"What!" Pietro asked in disbelief. They were back in Lance's room and Lance was trying to shove an X-Men uniform into Pietro's arms. 

"C'mon, it's not that bad," Lance said distractedly, as he pushed the uniform at Pietro.

"Not…not that bad? Lance this is an _X-Men_ uniform. Did you hear me? _X-Men_," Pietro pleaded, desperately trying to convince Lance to come to his senses.

"Listen, we're not gonna be able to go to this if we don't wear these."

"Exactly," Pietro crossed his arms so that it was impossible for Lance to hand him the bundle of black spandex. Lance tossed it on the bed and sighed, looking at Pietro like he was the one who was being a pain.

"Pietro, I really wanna do this, and I really want you to come with me," Lance said honestly.

"Ok…?" Pietro asked, his eyebrows arched, wondering if that was supposed to convince him to go. They held each other in a death stare until Lance finally broke down.

"Ok, ok, if you do this, I'll do whatever stupid thing you want later," he said reluctantly.

"Well, why didn't ya say so?" Pietro asked cheerfully, scooping up the uniform and leaving the room to change. Pietro always won these little exchanges and it drove Lance crazy. He hoped that this scrimmage would be worth becomming Pietro's personal slave. With a sigh and a heavy heart he followed Pietro out of the room to go meet the others in the Danger Room.

Pietro regretted his decision from the second he set foot in the rightfully named 'Danger Room'. Wanda was lucky enough to have avoided this exercise and was hanging out with Rogue somewhere else in the mansion. It seemed like they were the only two who weren't present, and Pietro got the feeling that scrimmages were very popular among the student population at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters.

The students had congregated into groups and were chatting idly with one another. The new recruits were all on one side of the humongous metal room, and were separated into their own little factions while the X-Men all stayed in one bunch.

As soon as they entered, Evan and Scott grinned at Pietro menacingly. Unlike Lance, Pietro's powers were better suited with escaping than fighting. There wasn't a lot of room to run in this enclosed space, and if he got cornered then there wasn't much he could do to save himself, and he was sure that Evan and Scott had already figured this out. Pietro felt a sense of hopelessness wash over him, but there was no way he was going to let Evan and Scott know he was scared.

He gave them both a big smile, and waved as if they were longtime pals. Scott's smile faded and he pretended like he hadn't noticed Pietro at all, but Evan took one fingerdrew it across his neck lengthwise, letting Pietro know he hadn't forgotten about what had happened earlier. Oh yeah, this was gonna be fun.

"Lance, are you sure you wanna do this?" Pietro asked Lance quietly. Lance however, wasn't paying attention to Pietro in the slightest. He was busy waving at Tabitha who had spotted them, and was making her way to where they were. Lance rushed up to her and Tabitha smiled at him.

"I'll take that as a yes," Pietro muttered, following Lance.

"Lance! Speedy! You came," Tabitha said cheerily. Ray, who was trailing behind her, gave both Lance and Pietro a forced polite smile. It was obvious that all the attention she was giving them was making Ray unhappy.

"Yeah," Lance answered returning her mega-watt smile. Pietro noticed that Lance kept looking over Tabitha's shoulder to see if Kitty was paying attention. She wasn't.

"Aww, Speedy you look so cute in that uniform," Tabitha said, moving on to Pietro. When she reached out to pinch his cheek, Pietro cringed as if she was the most disgusting thing on the planet.

"Whatsa matter? You don't like me anymore?" she asked her smile fading. Pietro muttered something incoherent and looked to the ground. Why was she doing this? Ray was standing right there, and he did not look happy at all. Pietro marveled at how he managed to keep his cool during this whole ordeal. If Pietro was in his postion...well Pietro would never be in Ray's position because he would never date Tabitha, but if he was they would be long broken up.

Before anything else could be said, Logan appeared on one side of the room and called for attention.

"Alright, everybody over here!" he yelled grumpily. All of the student gathered around the older mutant and waited for his instructions anxiously.

"Ok it's time to split into groups. Now I'm supervising so I don't want any of that switching stuff that you try to pull with the other teachers," Logan said gruffly. He had his hands on his hips, and he was staring everyone down, as if daring them to question his authority. No one did so he continued, "Team A: Cyclops, Multiple, Magma, Spyke, and Wolfsbane. Stand over here. Team B: Iceman, Half-Pint, Beserker, Jubilee, and Maximoff. Right over there. Team C is Jean, Elf, Tabitha, Sunspot, and Alvers. Team captains are the first names I called for each team, understand?"

The students nodded and walked over to the places Logan had shown them.

Pietro groaned audibly as he took his place next to Bobby, his team captain. However, he was fully aware that he had gotten off easy when the teams were divided. He didn't know what he would have done if he had been on Scott or Jean's team. His only complaint was that he was in the hands of a mutant who was at least two years younger than him. Kitty huffed and gave him a dirty look as soon as he got close to her, so Pietro walked over to where Ray and Jubilee were.

Ray looked at him reproachfully, but scooted to the side so Pietro would have a better place to stand.

"You know I'm not interested in her right?" Pietro asked. Ray seemed like a cool guy, and he didn't want any hard feelings between them.

"Yeah...I know," Ray answered, his gaze shifting down to the polished metal floor. This brought Pietro's attention to the material the entire room was made of. Metal.Specifically surgical steel. Magneto's favorite. Pietro couldn't help but shudder slightly as he looked around the circular room. No wonder he felt so uncomfortable in here.

"Soo, what happens now?" Pietro asked, deciding the subject needed to be changed.

"You're about to find out," Jubilee answered with a smile. Pietro did not like the sound of that. Not one bit.

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	22. To Be Hated

What's with all the traffic on this site lately? Took me a few days more than it should have to post this, but here it is. I hope you read, review, and enjoy. :)

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Logan paced between the three groups, scowling at each of them as he passed.

"Alright, since most of you already know how this works I'm gonna keep it short. The goal is to get to the endpoint of this maze," at his words, 10 ft tall metal walls rose out of the floor, turning the empty space of the Danger Room into a twisted, gleaming maze of steel. In other words the room looked like something out of one of Magneto's wet dreams. Pietro heard Lance whistle in awe which mirrored Pietro's feelings exactly. However, it seemed that everyone else was accustomed to this procedure as no one even batted an eyelash.

"To do this your team captain will split you up into sub-groups to navigate through the maze. You can use your powers, but keep it clean, ok? First team to get all member to the end-point wins, got it?" Logan asked. It looked like all of this explaining was taking a lot out of him. Only the few students who had been paying attention nodded their heads, but this seemed to satisfy Logan who turned to leave.

"By the way," he added over his shoulder, " I'll be watchin' from up there and if I see _any_ of you punks try somethin' funny you'll be dealing with me."

Pietro looked up at the ceiling and saw a large dome with glass viewing panes. There was no doubt that that's where Logan would be watching from, but Pietro hoped that he would be paying very close attention. A maze meant that there would be more dead ends than Pietro had anticipated, which meant more chances for him to get cornered. Pietro was really looking forward to getting out of the Danger Room now; preferably all in one piece.

"Pietro! Get over here!" Kitty yelled. Each team was huddled together to go over what there strategy would be. Pietro raced over to his group and squeezed into the circle that they had formed in between Kitty and Ray.

"You called Pryde?" he asked, flashing her an obnoxiously overconfident grin.

"Ugh, don't flatter yourself," Kitty answered pushing Pietro away.

"Guys, can we keep it together here?" Bobby asked from his spot in the circle in between Ray and Jubilee.

"Aye aye captain," Pietro saluted, causing Jubilee to giggle.

"Oh brother," Kitty sighed, rolling her eyes.

"Be serious man. I don't know about you guys, but I want to win," Bobby said, frowning at Pietro.

"Psh, what do we even get if we win?" Pietro asked.

"We get…what do we get?"

"Beats me," Ray shrugged.

"Well it doesn't matter what we get as long as we win," Bobby said matter-of-factly, crossing his arms as he looked up at Pietro who was at least three inches taller than he was. Pietro grinned at the younger mutant, thinking all he needed was the hat, and he would make a perfect Napoleon. Kitty nodded in agreement with what Bobby had said.

"Can we stop wasting time already? It's almost time to start," Jubilee begged.

"I guess," Pietro answered plainly, "So Bobby, what's the plan?"

"Ok, Jubilee comes with me and the rest of you stick together. Jubilee can send up fireworks if we need you guys."

Pietro wasn't the only one who saw the holes in this plan.

"Bobby what am I gonna do if we run into someone and you get hurt? Shoot fireworks at them?" Jubilee asked frantically.

"Uhh…ok, Ray comes with us then," Bobby said.

"Fine with me," Ray answered.

"Ok, everyone's good with this? Good. Ray, Jubes, let's go," Bobby said quickly, pulling Ray and Jubilee away, leaving no time for the other two to argue. Pietro gaped after them, speechless. He had hoped that his partner would've been someone a bit more intimidating than little Ms. Kitty Pryde. Besides, it didn't take a genius to see that she hated his guts.

"Groups get in your place," Logan's voice commanded over the intercom. It was time to start. The smaller groups were now assembling on square compartments in the floor Pietro hadn't noticed. They were labeled A-1, A-2, B-1 etc. He wasn't surprised at all to see Scott and Evan sharing a square. From the giddy look on Evan's face it might as well have been Christmas. Pietro knew at once that it was in his best interest to avoid those two entirely.

"Come on already," Kitty said grumpily, dragging Pietro by the wrist over to a square marked B-2.

"Is that any way to talk to your teammate?" Pietro scolded, pulling out of her grasp. Kitty just glared daggers at him in return. Although he was well-adjusting to dealing with people who hated him at this point in his life, Pietro could not understand why Kitty got so worked up around him. He had not spoken to her more than five times altogether, and he figured she would have gotten over the life-saving incident by now.

"May I ask you a question Pryde?" Pietro asked politely once they were standing on their square. Kitty grunted and didn't look Pietro's way.

"Why do you hate me?"

Kitty turned sharply and looked right into his eyes, "Because! You, you…ugh! You're totally self-centered! And you're arrogant and rude! Just being in the same room as you makes me want to puke!"

"Oh," Pietro said softly. For some reason her answer caught him off-guard. He wondered if this was how everyone else felt about him too. It probably was. That was just the price Pietro paid for not letting anyone see what he was really like. He wouldn't expose anyone to that, so he acted the way he did so no one would feel bad for him; so no one would know the truth. He had been so successful at this, that he had no friends, and no one could even guess the pain he was carrying with him every day of his life. Wanda was the first person who was starting to get close, but only because she had gone through experiences with Pietro that no one else would understand.

Kitty's expression softened a little when she saw the damage her words had done, but instead of apologizing she busied herself by staring at her shoes. Pietro did the same, looking down at the dumb yellow boots he was being forced to wear. He didn't care whether Kitty apologized or not; she had no idea what she was even talking about, so it didn't matter to Pietro. Nothing mattered. He wished he could see Wanda right know, but he knew that even if he could he wouldn't tell her what he was going through. Just being in her presence, though, made him feel better because she was just as screwed up as he was. And in both of their cases it was Magneto's fault.

Pietro sighed, drawing in confidence from some unknown source inside of him, and looked up, waiting for the next instruction.

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	23. Into the Darkness

Thanks to everyone who reviewed. Like I always say, I really appreciate it. :) Please read and review this next chapter and the next one will be coming soon.

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Instead of hearing another instruction from Logan, and without a warning from any of the other students who had been waiting for something quietly, the edges of the square Pietro and Kitty were standing on glowed white-hot causing Pietro's eyes to widen as he marveled at this sudden change. Before he could even open his mouth to ask Kitty what was going on the entire square lit up and he felt strangely weightless for a moment as they were transported to a corresponding square by an opening in the wall of the giant maze. Pietro looked around the area around where they now stood so quickly, his head became a blur because he was turning it so fast. He and Kitty were very much alone, and the steel walls loomed over the menacingly, and it seemed as if they were silently trying to entice them into the darkness contained within them.

"What the fuck was that?" Pietro asked, forgetting that he shouldn't be talking to Kitty after what she had said to him.

"Come on, we're wasting time," Kitty insisted skipping an explanation altogether, and beckoning Pietro to follow her into the maze. Pietro followed her reluctantly, muttering darkly under his breath. The corridor of the maze was eerily quiet and dark, and a gray mist was swirling around their ankles. Pietro frowned as he walked side-by-side with Kitty who seemed to be concentrating very hard, and acted as if Pietro wasn't there at all. They approached a point in their path where the corridor split into two separate directions. Pietro was just about to ask Kitty which way she thought they should go when he heard someone scream, and yelling coming from the left path.

"There's somebody down there!" Kitty said, trying to make out who it was in the distant fog.

"No shit Pryde," Pietro snapped sarcastically, before racing down the hall where the noise had come from. He skidded to a halt when he saw Rahne and Amara lying unconscious on the ground with Tabitha and Lance standing over them with looks of utmost satisfaction on their faces.

"They never knew what hit 'em," Lance said, looking over at Tabitha happily.

"Yeah, well, they don't call me 'Boom-Boom' for nothin'," she answered, crossing her arms triumphantly. Lance was the first to notice Pietro.

"Hey!" he shouted, but it was too late. Pietro had already raced back to Kitty who had only been by herself for a little over 30 seconds.

"Whoa," she gasped, taken aback by Pietro's speedy return, "Wha-…"

"Time to go," Pietro said as he heard the sound of Lance and Tabitha barreling towards them as fast as their legs could manage. Pietro scooped Kitty into his arms and raced down the hall to the right. As soon as he was sure they were well out of range of the two destructive teens, Pietro carefully put Kitty down. There was a bit of an awkward pause and Pietro could've sworn he had seen Kitty's face flush, although she seemed determined not to let him see. This puzzled Pietro. Less than an hour ago, hadn't she been the one who had screamed at him for being a self-centered ego-maniac? Pietro decided he must have been seeing things, and began to start walking again. When he didn't hear Kitty following him, he turned around and stared at her, his eyebrows raised with curiosity.

"Coming Pryde?" he asked rudely.

"Huh? Oh, of course I'm coming," Kitty replied, her eyebrows furrowing angrily and the flicker of a smile fading as quickly as the flame of an extinguished candle. They proceeded to walk down the empty corridor, and the only sound was the echoing of their footsteps. They reached another crossroads and Pietro waited for Kitty to tell him which way they should go.

"…Well?" he asked when she didn't.

"I don't know which way we should go!" she said suddenly, growing even more frustrated by the second.

"…Fine, let's got this way," he grumbled going to the path that led to the left. Kitty looked hesitant, but followed him just the same. As they walked it became apparent to Pietro that they were not alone. He had almost noticed too late, ducking as a spike aimed directly at his head cut through the air like a knife, and hitting the wall behind him with a loud clanging sound. Although it had missed Pietro's head it had managed to cut through the material of his uniform on his right shoulder.

"Kitty!" Pietro yelled, alerting her to Scott and Evan who were standing only a few feet away from them. He ran over to Kitty and picked her up yet again, running as fast as he could down the hall.

"No…" he said quietly as he came to a stop. It was a dead end and there was nowhere for them to go.

"Try running away now Maximoff!" Evan yelled as he finally caught up to them, with Scott only a few steps behind him. Pietro put Kitty down and felt his breath catch in his throat. This was it. There was no getting out of it this time.

"This ends now!" Scott said darkly as he took aim. Evan grew spikes all along his arm and all over his back. He looked the happiest he ever had in his entire life. Pietro gulped looking at Kitty for help. They had the only exit blocked off, and unless Kitty was going to use her powers to help him out of this, he didn't have much hope. Kitty looked back at him and nodded, pulling him close to the wall so they could phase through. Scott was two steps ahead of her and fired an optic blast straight at Kitty. Right before it hit her Pietro pushed her out of the way a little too hard and she slammed into the wall. She was knocked unconscious instantly and Pietro took the blast straight in the chest, propelling him into the wall behind him. It wasn't enough to knock him out, unfortunately, and Evan took the opportunity as Pietro was pushing himself to his feet to send five spikes his way. Pietro fell flat to the floor avoiding them completely. He wasn't so lucky with Scott.

"Lights out Maximoff," he said with an evil grin, shooting him again with a lot more force than the one he had shot at Kitty and Pietro slammed into the wall once again, and his head went back forcefully. The last thing he remembered before passing out was Evan's face, shining in triumph, and hearing Logan's voice yelling angrily over the intercom.

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	24. The Warning

I absolutely love all the responses I'm getting from you guys. Please keep it up. I made this chapter longer than the last few, so if it bores you please tell me.

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Pietro came to around 15 minutes later. Wincing, he managed to push himself into a sitting position with all the strength he could muster. Someone must have pulled him out of the maze while he was still unconscious, because he was sitting on the far end of the Danger Room; with his back against the wall, and the closest wall of the maze at least 10 ft away. Blinking a few times, he looked to his right and saw that a girl with red hair separated into pigtails was stirring from consciousness as well. Pietro recognized her as one of the girls he had seen Lance and Tabitha take down. Sitting next to her, Tabitha looked very angry as she was pouting and had her arms crossed in front of her chest. The tips of her hair were singed, which was obviously the handiwork of Ray, and next to Tabitha was the red-haired girl's partner who was still unconscious. In fact as Pietro's gaze shifted along the wall of the Danger Room where they were sitting he saw that the majority of the mutants who had entered the maze had failed to reach the endpoint without being eliminated. As far as he could tell, Evan and Scott were still in the maze because they couldn't be seen in the line-up of defeated teens who were sitting with their backs against the wall just like Pietro. The few who weren't were either unconscious or standing. Pietro looked to his left and almost yelped out because of how close his face had come to colliding with Logan's kneecap. Logan was standing with one shoulder against the wall, ankles and arms crossed, and his head turned towards the maze. He was wearing his alternate dark blue uniform, and the look on his face was a mix between boredom and his usual grumpiness. That is until he looked down and saw Pietro gaping up at him.

"You're awake. Few more minutes and I mighta been worried," Logan said in his gruff manner, although a small smile was slowly finding a place on his face.

Pietro nodded his head, still at a loss for words. After nodding his head throbbed painfully and as he clutched it a groan escaped his lips. His body had been in bad shape to begin with, due to a lack of sleep and food, and since he still hadn't fully recovered from the incident in the medical ward Pietro had been put off physically even before enduring Evan and Scott's attack. Everything hurt, especially his head and chest, and the open wound on his shoulder was begging for medical attention.

"Maybe you should check in with Hank, just to be safe," Logan said, as a flicker of concern took hold of his features, but it was quickly disguised as an angry frown.

Pietro wouldn't have realized Logan was concerned anyways; his hands were now covering his face, and he moaned a little before his breathing changed to slow, deliberate breaths in order to ease the pain. Pietro was quite accustomed to dealing with pain, so he knew the damage he had sustained wasn't life-threatening. Nevertheless, it still hurt like hell.

"Do you think you can walk?" Logan asked calmly, reaching out a hand to help him up.

Pietro lowered his hands and looked up into Logan's face, nodding his head gently. He took Logan's hand and pulled himself up to his feet, biting his lip to keep from screaming out in pain.

"Listen, I want you to know that the stunt Evan and Scott pulled back there…they didn't get away with it. They're talking with the Professor right now, and I already got 'em booked for a month's worth of extra sessions with me."

There was a bit of an awkward pause. Pietro couldn't speak, and although Logan had realized this, he wasn't a big talker, so finding the right things to say was hard for him.

"Nobody gets away with that kinda stuff around here, and Chuck, I mean the Professor, wants you guys to feel comfortable living here, so he wanted me to tell you that. You should probably get yourself into Medical, that thing on your shoulder don't look too good," Logan continued, his voice trailing off as he used up the last of his compassion. The distinct sounds of a struggle were coming from inside the maze now, and it looked as if Logan needed to get back to his monitoring duties.

"Yeah, I know. How do I get out of here?" Pietro asked forcefully, through clenched teeth.

"Over there," Logan answered, pointing to the two big doors where they had entered the Danger Room.

"Thanks," Pietro whispered, walking past Rahne, Tabitha, Amara (who was still unconscious), Lance and Jamie as he made his way to the exit. Lance tried to catch Pietro's eye, giving him a look of sympathy as he watched Pietro's battered form pass by, but Pietro was having none of it; refusing to look at him at all. After all, this was mostly Lance's fault. He had pushed Pietro into going with him, without thinking once about the danger he was putting the both of them in. It could've very well been Lance cornered in the maze by Scott and Evan, and exactly the same thing would've happened to him. Realizing this, Lance felt guilty as he watched his 'best friend' limp out of the Danger Room, the fresh blood on his shoulder red and shining.

Pietro reached the large reinforced doors, and they slid open, allowing him entry into the hallway of the lower floor of the Institute. A few lights dangling haphazardly along the hall leading to the elevator provided shabby lighting that cast everything in shadows. Besides the elevator that Pietro was heading to and the doors to the Danger Room the corridor was considerably empty. Pietro stood in the elevator silently agonizing over his injuries with only the whirring of the devices that were lifting the elevator to comfort him. He wasn't mad at Lance, although he had every reason to be. Pietro wasn't stupid; he knew that something had been bound to happen, since his old rival had been plotting against him ever since he had word of Pietro's arrival. The elevator dinged and the doors sprung open, alerting Pietro that it was time to get out. Instead of going to the medical ward, Pietro proceeded up the large staircase, battling his way up each and every step. He really wasn't in the mood for reliving how he managed to have the crap beaten out of him for Beast. Pietro knew that Beast would already be upset, since he had advised Pietro against doing anything physical after his last examination. All Pietro wanted to do was lie down in his nice warm bed, safe from the disapproving looks of loathing he was so used to.

He was walking through the corridor at the top of the stairs when he heard a man's voice coming form inside one of the rooms. Pietro paused and drew closer to the room with a door that was curiously ajar. The voice was familiar; charming and smooth, and Pietro could recognize it anywhere.

"Gambit," he muttered, pushing open the door abruptly to see that it was indeed Gambit who had been talking. He was standing awfully close to Rogue and it looked as if he had been trying to persuade her into doing something she didn't want to. Gambit looked annoyed at Pietro's unexpected entrance, but Rogue seemed grateful for the interruption.

"Well, well, well," Pietro said, plastering an amused smirk over the pained expression that had been in its place only seconds before. He leaned against the doorframe so that he was able to appear haughty and disguise any sign that he had been badly hurt at the same time.

"Wait Cherie, don't go," Gambit pleaded, but to no avail. Rogue exited the room rather quickly, pushing past Pietro without saying a word, and looking extremely embarrassed. Once she was gone, Gambit glared at Pietro angrily, his black and red eyes narrowing into dangerous slits.

"So what brings you here? Oh, let me guess, you just happened to be in the neighborhood and you thought that this was the perfect time to break through all of Xavier's security so you could talk to your dear friend Rogue. Am I right?" Pietro asked contemptuously.

"You and I both know what brought me here. Magneto. Now stop being stupid, and let me tell you what I was sent here to tell you…" Gambit said, keeping his voice low.

"Me? Being stupid? Hey I'm not the one soliciting sex from a minor who can't even touch you," Pietro said with a laugh.

Pietro watched Gambit who looked as if something had just exploded inside of him. He didn't let his emotions get the better of him however, and was maintaining control very well from Pietro's perspective.

"Now listen, Magneto sent me to warn you. If you don't start shaping up and giving Magneto the results he wants, heads are gonna roll. You know he isn't just sayin' that either," Gambit said grimly, handing a new comlink to Pietro, "He wants to talk to you about this. Face to face. Make it sooner rather than later this time."

Pietro took the comlink grudgingly, staring at it as if it was the most despicable thing on the planet. When he looked up Gambit was gone.

* * *


	25. With You

I was really inspired for this chapter by the first comic in the House of M series, and the intesity of Pietro and Wanda's relationship. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it to everyone. Good dysfunctional stuff. Anyway, that was my focus for this chapter, bringing the Maximoff twins closer together. Please review if you like what I'm doing here. Oh, and I don't own the song at the end which is Linkin Park's "With You". I just thought it fit well with what was going on, so please don't sue me. One last thing, see if you can find the reference to "Fragile" by Nine Inch Nails. I couldn't help it, that song is too good.

* * *

Pietro was able to drag himself into his room after talking to Gambit, and was just about to flop down on his bed for some much-needed rest when Wanda spoke.

"Pietro, why didn't you tell me?" she asked quietly. She was sitting on the edge of her bed, her gaze focused on the floor, and she seemed to have been lost in thought before Pietro came in.

Before answering Pietro laid down with his face buried in his pillow so that his speech was muffled.

"What?" he asked, wondering how he was supposed to run upstairs and tell her that he had been attacked when he had been knocked unconscious.

"About Magneto. You never told me," she continued, spitting out the name of her father as if it tasted bad. Pietro lay still for a moment as he decided how to handle the situation. Obviously she hadn't been talking about what happened in the Danger Room, and he was decidedly grateful that he had stowed the comlink away before he entered the room. Thinking that Wanda had nothing to back up what she was saying, Pietro chose to play it safe.

"What?" he repeated into his pillow.

"You know what I'm talking about," Wanda spoke slowly and deliberately, as if she had put a lot of thought into what she was going to say, "Rogue told me everything."

'Rogue!' Pietro thought as his mind started to race. How could Rogue know anything? Pietro never confided anything about his personal life with anyone, unless…That had to be it. Rogue had absorbed his powers once and along with his powers she must have picked up some memories as well. But that was a long time ago, so she couldn't possibly have any idea of what was happening now, could she? Pietro turned his head to the side to look at Wanda who was staring straight back at him, her blue eyes piercing straight through him, probing for answers. Under the pressure of Wanda's gaze it was hard for anyone not to confess every sin they had ever committed, but Pietro was not just anyone. More importantly he was also a Maximoff, and he stared back at her with almost identical eyes.

"What are you talking about Wanda?"

"You know what I'm talking about. Why didn't you tell me what he did to you?"

Pietro snorted, "You think that's something I walk around telling people?"

"You should've told me."

"Why? So you could feel sorry for me? You're the one who said I was 'just like him' after you called him a monster? I'm not supposed to _have_ feelings, remember?" Pietro snapped.

"I, I shouldn't have said that."

"No it's fine. It's what everybody else thinks, isn't it? I do look just like the bastard don't I?" Pietro said with a mirthless laugh.

"Pietro…"

"No Wanda! You were the lucky one, can't you see that? Yeah you got locked away, but you were safe! I would've given anything for that!"

"Pietro! If you would just talk to me about it, then I could help you. We could help each other get over what he's done!"

"Done? You mean doing, Wanda," the words came out before he could stop them.

"What?" Wanda asked softly. But Pietro was trough talking, and he turned over on his side so he wouldn't have to look at her.

"Pietro what's going on?"

"Why don't you ask Rogue?" Pietro said bitterly.

"Pietro…what happened to your shoulder?"

"It's nothing…"

Wanda sighed and got up and Pietro thought that she hat left the room for good. Instead she returned with a damp washcloth, which she pressed gently on his bloody shoulder after returning to his side. Pietro's body stiffened when she touched him.

"Pietro," Wanda started again, but Pietro didn't want to hear what she had to say. His eyes were shut so tightly that his nose scrunched up.

"I know you think I won't be able to understand what you're going through, but he's my father too. You shouldn't have to be alone. _We_ shouldn't have to be alone. You're my brother and I'm going to be there for you whether you like it or not."

Pietro rolled over onto his back and looked up at her with wide, curious eyes. Tears had started to stream silently down her face, and she bit her lip, concentrating heavily on tending to Pietro's wound. She was really trying to get closer, and Pietro didn't know how to handle it. None of the relationships he had were real, and he hadn't allowed himself to care about anyone for obvious reasons. Yet here was Wanda, and she was probably the only person who could even come close to understanding him. She knew there was a reason for Pietro's obnoxious behavior and she accepted it because she used the same reason to justify her anger. In this way they were the same and deep down she knew he was good, even if no one else could see it. As Pietro thought about this he realized just how much he appreciated Wanda. He hadn't seen it before, but now it was right in front of him; impossible to ignore. Pietro propped himself onto his elbows and moved her hand from his shoulder.

"Pietro lay down…" Wanda said, still avoiding his eyes. That was when Pietro pulled her into a hug. She sat stiffly for a moment, and let out a startled sob, but after the shock wore off she hugged him tightly back. Her body shook in his arms, and Pietro closed his eyes, his mouth an undefined line.

"I won't let you fall apart," he whispered, not caring whether or not she heard him because for the fist time he didn't feel alone. The Maximoff twins were never given the chance to lead a happy life, Magneto ensured this when he had chosen to put his desire for mutant domination over his family, but now at least they had each other.

"Is this a bad time?"

Pietro opened his eyes and saw Kitty in the doorway, holding the doorknob uncertainly. Wanda stopped crying at once and pulled away from her brother, trying to wipe away the mess her mascara had left on her tear-stained face.

"No of course not," Pietro said sarcastically.

"I guess I'll come back later then," Kitty said quickly as she started to pull the door shut.

"No, Kitty, what is it?" Wanda asked, her voice sounding surprisingly normal.

"Well…" Kitty started awkwardly shifting back into the room. Pietro saw that there was a bandage covering half of her forehead, form the battle in the maze he assumed.

"Yes?" Pietro asked impatiently.

"I, I just wanted to tell you that we won the scrimmage. And I wanted to say thank you for what you did," Kitty said.

Wanda and Pietro both stared at her. Pietro could tell that there was more that she wanted to say, but she looked uncomfortable.

"Do you want me to leave?" Wanda asked seriously, as she stood up from Pietro's bedside.

"No! I just…you don't have to leave!" Kitty insisted shrilly, but Wanda was already passing through the doorway and out of sight. Pietro watched her leave sadly; now that everything between them was so good he never wanted them to be separated again.

"Can I come in?" Kitty asked.

Pietro sighed and nodded, wondering why she was behaving so oddly. She came in and sat down on the edge of Wanda's bed, looking around as if she was uncertain whether she should be there at all.

"You got something to tell me Pryde?" Pietro asked, his blue eyes focusing in on her worried face.

"What made you do that?" she blurted out.

"Do what?"

"Push me out of the way. You didn't have to…"

"It doesn't matter, you still got hurt anyways," Pietro said airily.

"I know, but it could've been worse. Besides, I thought you only care about yourself."

"Oh yeah, that's right, you have me all figured out, don't you?" he snapped, glaring at the nervous girl in front of him. Who did she think she was, coming into his room and saying things like that?

"No, I just didn't understand…"

"There are a lot of things you don't understand."

"I understand a lot of things! What I don't understand Pietro, is you," Kitty said angrily as she stood to leave.

"Guess not. Bye now," Pietro said, turning on his side as a sign that he wanted her to leave. He heard Kitty huff angrily, and he sighed happily once he had thought that she was no longer in the room.

"Mr. McCoy is looking for you."

"Damn, you're still here…"

"You're impossible!" Kitty slammed the door behind her as she left, leaving Pietro very much alone. He picked up the washcloth Wanda had left behind and pressed it to his shoulder as he looked up at the ceiling. He felt no remorse for the way he had treated Kitty. She had assumed, just like everyone did, that there was nothing more to him then what he put on display, and for that reason alone he had no patience for her. What did she expect form him anyway? As he drifted off to sleep Pietro found himself hoping that whatever Magneto wanted from him could wait until he got better.

* * *

**With You**

I woke up in a dream today  
To the cold of the static and put my cold feet on the floor  
Forgot all about yesterday  
Remembering I'm pretending to be where I'm not anymore  
A little taste of hypocrisy  
And I'm left in the wake of the mistake slow to react  
Even though you're so close to me  
You're still so distant  
And I can't bring you back

It's true the way I feel  
Was promised by your face  
The sound of your voice  
Painted on my memories  
Even if you're not with me  
I'm with you

You, now I see, keeping everything inside  
with you  
You, Now I see, Even when I close my eyes

I hit you and you hit me back  
We fall to the floor the rest of the day stands still  
Fine line between this and that  
When things go wrong I pretend the past isn't real  
I'm trapped in this memory  
And I'm left in the wake of the mistake slow to react  
So even though you're close to me  
You're still so distant  
And I can't bring you back

It's true the way I feel  
Was promised by your face  
The sound of your voice  
Painted on my memories  
Even if you're not with me  
I'm with you

You, now I see, keeping everything inside  
with you  
You, Now I see, Even when I close my eyes  
With you  
You, now I see, keeping everything inside  
with you  
You, Now I see, Even when I close my eyes

No, no matter how far we've come  
I can't wait to see tomorrow  
No, no matter how far we've come I  
I can't wait to see tomorrow

With you  
You, now I see, keeping everything inside  
with you  
You, Now I see, Even when I close my eyes  
With you  
You, now I see, keeping everything inside  
with you  
You, Now I see, Even when I close my eyes


	26. Wandering

I know, I know...it took way too long for me to post this, but I wasn't happy with the way it was going. I hope you like it, and I do appreciate every review I get. If you think it's crap feel free to tell me.

_It was dark in the corridor of the dreary castle sitting on top of the hill in the forest. It had been there for as long as anyone could remember, and no one had ever cared enough to find out who inhabited it; especially since whoever did kept a pack of wolves on constant guard of the premises. A little boy was illuminated by the flickering torch on the opposite wall of where he was sitting. He was very fidgety and his nervous eyes darted to the large door in front of him every so often. The boy had shocking white hair that was styled in a most unusual manner, and he had a presence that made him seem older than his years. His vivid blue eyes that seemed to large for his pale face focused suddenly on the door and he gripped the arms on his chair so tightly that his knuckles turned white. Someone was screaming inside the room, and the shrieks subsided when the door was flung open and a little girl with short black hair walked out. She was whimpering and holding one of her arms tightly, and the boy examined her as she proceeded down the hall, without acknowledging the boy at all._

_"Come in boy."_

_The boy gulped, sweat beading down his little face as he stood from his chair and entered the genetics lab._

_"Sit there."_

_The boy made his way over to an examining table made out of stainless steel. On his first attempt to climb onto it his hands slipped off of the smooth surface. Once he was sitting a man emerged from the shadows from in between a monitor and a table stacked with test tubes. The boy's mouth opened and shut a few times, but no words came out, and it looked like he was dying to protest, to say something that would prevent what inevitably was coming next. The man was wearing a white lab coat and a surgical mask and all else was hidden in the darkness. All except for the large syringe he was preparing in his gloved hands. The boy let out a strangled cry when he saw what the man was holding, but the man paid no attention. He had already shut the door and was approaching the boy with determined coldness in every step. He seized the boy by the arm before he could try to escape, and the boy struggled in his grasp, eyeing the needle with his wide petrified eyes._

_"This won't hurt," the man insisted._

_"NO!" the boy yelled, writhing even more violently in the man's grasp. The man forced the boy to lay back on the table while he held him down with one arm._

_"Daddy please!"_

_With the hand that was holding the syringe the man used two fingers to summon metal restraints that were hanging on the wall over to the table. While he held the squirming boy down the man attached the restraints to the table and with a click he had the boy's arms and legs locked into place. Lightning struck outside and the man stood up straight as he tried to subdue his temper._

_"I don't see why you always insist on making this so difficult Pietro," he said. He pulled up the boy's sleeve and readied the needle once more. The boy pulled at the restraints weakly, but he knew it was no use._

_"Please," the boy whispered, looking at the man with tears in his eyes. The man ignored the plea and brought the needle up to the boy's arm. The boy abandoned all hope and shut his eyes tightly, bracing himself for the pain._

17-year-old Pietro Maximoff's eyes flashed open and he shot up into a sitting position, his eyes moving wildly in every direction. He was breathing heavily and his body was drenched in cold sweat, and as soon as he realized that he was safe in his bed at the Institute his breathing slowly began to return to normal. His sheets were tangled around his ankles and he groaned and rubbed his eyes as he felt the pain of his headache returning. Pietro turned his sore body to the side and tried to make out the numbers on the digital clock. Squinting, he untangled himself with one hand and reached out and grabbed the clock from his dresser with the other. Bringing it up to his face so he could see clearly Pietro saw that the numbers read: 3:20. He put it back on the dresser, closed his eyes, and pinched the space between his eyebrows, a trick he had picked up from Mystique. He had seen her do it many times, usually right after she finished yelling at the Brotherhood for being such an embarrassing failure. Pietro was surprised to find that it actually eased his pain a little, at least enough for him to be able to think straight. He looked over at Wanda, hoping that she might be awake, but she was sleeping peacefully. Pietro had wished that she too might have been woken up by some disturbing nightmare about her past, but unfortunately Pietro was the only one who couldn't sleep at night. He knew that he should be used to the awful memories that took the place of any sweet dreams he might've been having instead by now, but it seemed like every time he closed his eyes it was getting harder and harder to think about anything else.

Pietro got out of bed and tried to straighten out his sheets. He knew he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep, so he wasn't even going to try; he had fought that losing battle many times without success. Pietro walked over to his dresser and pulled a white tee-shirt out of one of the drawers. He was only wearing his boxers at the moment and didn't fancy prancing around the mansion in them, even if most normal people didn't make it a habit to walk around at 3:20 in the morning. Before putting on the shirt Pietro slowly peeled the wash cloth off his shoulder where it had dried while he was sleeping. It was caked with blood and Pietro stared at it, obviously disgusted, before tossing it to the side and pulling on his shirt. Normally at the Brotherhood house he would just wander around the house, maybe watch a little late night TV, but this time his wandering had a purpose. There was something he needed to do. He needed to talk to Toad.

The medical ward was silent when Pietro entered, but he hadn't expected anything else. He pushed through the curtain to the room where Todd's bed was, his injuries causing him to move slower than he usually would. Only the light above Todd's bed was lit, and he looked up curiously, trying to make out Pietro's form in the shadows. The fact that Todd was still awake didn't surprise Pietro at all; in fact he had been counting on it.

"Hey," Pietro said, pulling a chair over to Todd's side.

"Hey," Todd answered when he was sure who he was talking to. He looked suspicious, like he was trying to figure out Pietro's motives for coming to visit him at such a late hour. He couldn't think of any reason Pietro would come to visit him in the first place, as they weren't exactly close.

"So Xavier told us that you wanted to turn yourself in. What's up with that?" Pietro asked, getting straight to the point. Ever since Xavier had revealed this to the Brotherhood, it had remained in the back of Pietro's mind. He didn't want to see Todd go to jail because his appearance made it obvious that he was a mutant and Pietro was pretty sure 'muties' would get 'special treatment', especially since the law had been passed that Juvenile Hall was not an option for mutants.

"Why do you care?" Todd asked with a frown.

"I…I don't know," Pietro said with a shrug, "I just don't want to see you go to jail. I've been in there."

"So? It can't be as bad as staying here. Everyone knows I killed him, and they all think we're criminals anyway," Todd said darkly.

"Who cares what they think? This place is a new start for all of us and you're just gonna blow it so you can sit in a jail cell for the rest of your miserable life?"

"Thanks for that…"

"Sorry. I just think you should let this thing sort itself out before you throw your life away."

"My life? My life is shit. I ain't staying here."

"Fine, but don't say I didn't try to help you," Pietro huffed. This wasn't going like he planned at all.

"Help? Since when do you _help_? You don't care about me or anyone else. You left us and I don't fucking care what you think," Todd retorted, his voice rising steadily.

"You think I had a choice?"

"Yeah. You saw something better than what you had and you went for it."

Pietro laughed, "That's what you think? Jesus Christ Toad…that's gotta be one of the funniest things I've ever heard."

"What? Don't act like you didn't wanna be Magneto's golden boy," Toad said defiantly.

Pietro laughed so hard tears streamed down his face and he clutched his sides, and Toad stared at him like he was insane until he finished laughing.

"…So you don't like your dad?" Toad asked meekly.

"Like him? Like _him_? You really don't have any idea do you? I fucking hate his guts," Pietro said, wiping away the tears with the back of his hand and a smile on his face. Toad gaped at Pietro with disbelief, and he would have remained in such a state of shock except for that a door opening brought him back to his senses.

"I'm glad we had this talk," Pietro said quickly, patting Toad on the shoulder and racing back through the curtain as fast as his battered body would take him. He dodged Beast at the door who had come to see what was causing all the noise, and Pietro ran back up the stairs and into his room. Shutting the door behind him, Pietro looked over and saw that Wanda was still sleeping so h tiptoed over to his bed. Now the clock read 3:51 and Pietro sighed as he flopped down on his bed and waited for the day to start.


	27. NOTICE

NOTICE: I'm sorry about the slow updates, but I'm afraid the next one will have to wait for a week or so because I'm going on vacation. I've already started writing up the next chapter, but just in case I don't have it posted by Monday, I thought you should know the reason. Again, I'm sorry for those of you who have been reading and reviewing this story, but I'll have it updated as soon as I can.


	28. Four Mutants and a Funeral

Uhumm...yeah. I finally sat my ass down and typed up a new chapter for you guys. I know no amount of apologizing can make up for taking such a long time, but I'm REALLY sorry. This chapter isn't too exciting, but for the next chapter I have, ahem, big plans. Please review if I even have the right to ask you anymore.

* * *

Wanda finally stirred at around 7:00 in the morning, and when she opened her eyes she saw Pietro staring straight back at her.

"You're awake," he stated plainly, relieved that he didn't have to wait any longer. He had been lying in his bed in complete silence for about five hours and he could only count the stitches in his bed sheets so many times.

"Pietro," Wanda grumbled, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, "Did you sleep _at all_?"

Pietro nodded, but decided to keep the fact that he had only slept for three hours to himself. Wanda sighed and looked at her brother through eyes that were still half-asleep. Her short black hair stuck up in odd places and the eyeliner she had forgotten to remove the night before had smudged under her eyes. Pietro smiled back at her, a genuine smile at that, and waited until she was ready to talk.

"You already showered," Wanda commented, noticing that Pietro was fully clothed and that his hair wasn't completely dry. He nodded again, the smile never leaving his face.

"What is wrong with you?" Wanda asked suspiciously as she tried to place the cause for Pietro's sudden change of attitude.

"Nothing," he answered without having to lie.

"Uh-huh…well if you've been up for such a long time why didn't you clean up your side of the room or something?" she asked, searching for any subject that would distract her brother from the massive cowlick she had just realized had made it's home on the side of her head.

"I don't know," Pietro said truthfully, rising form his bed to pick up the articles of clothing that were scattered on his side of the room. Amongst them was the X-Men uniform that was crumpled up into a ball on the floor. As soon as Pietro picked it up the smile faded off his face and his heart beat faster than normal. Through the material his fingers traced the outline of something very tiny in one of the pockets. Pietro couldn't believe that something so small could trigger this reaction in him, but to him the comlink wasn't just pieces of metal stuck together; it was a symbol. A symbol of the only person he feared. With his back turned, so that Wanda couldn't see, Pietro removed the device form the uniform and stuck it into his own pocket. Gambit had said that Magneto was already less-than pleased with Pietro because of the way things had been going, and the lack of communication, but what did Magneto expect? Pietro was positive that the X-Men weren't plotting anything as Magneto suspected, and Pietro was pretty sure that insane paranoia was behind his father's suspicions.

Pietro clutched his head suddenly as he felt a sharp burst of pain.

'Would the members of the Brotherhood please meet me in the foyer?'

Xavier's voice rang through Pietro's head so clearly he let out a yelp of shock, and turned around to make sure that the Professor wasn't in the room.

"Did you hear that?" Wanda asked, sitting up quickly and looking at her brother nervously. When Pietro nodded, Wanda seemed to relax a bit.

"Are you ok?"

Pietro was still holding his head that continued to throb painfully, "Yeah, I'm alright. My head is just killing me."

"Oh," Wanda got out of bed and picked out some clothes to change into, "You should get something for that."

Pietro nodded, "I know. I will. Are we going to see Xavier or what?"

"Yeah, let me just change. I'll meet you downstairs," Wanda said distractedly as she left the room with a bundle of clothes under her arm.

Pietro was about to follow her when the comlink in his pocket buzzed. He stopped short and waited until Wanda had shut the door behind her before taking it out of his pocket. After letting it buzz for a few more seconds Pietro reluctantly pressed down on the button.

"…Hello?" he said quietly, his voice barely a hoarse whisper.

"Quicksilver," his father's voice snapped back instantly. Pietro's throat went completely dry and he swallowed a few times until he was able to answer.

"Yes?"

"Gambit told you to come see me, did he not?"

"…Yes."

"Then why haven't you? I need to speak with you. In person."

Pietro gulped, "I…"

"You're wasting my time. Come at once."

The device in Pietro's sweaty hand beeped and he knew that Magneto was gone. He slipped it back into his pocket and exited the room with his face even paler than it had been. Magneto was angry with him, and people who upset Magneto had bad things coming to them.

As he descended the stairs, taking them two at a time, Pietro debated whether or not to go and meet his father. He knew it was in his best interests to go soon, but he had no idea when he would have time to just slip away unnoticed. And Wanda would be a problem too. He didn't want to betray this new-found trusting relationship he had only just form with her, but if she found out that he left the mansion she would start asking questions.

Lance, Toad, Wanda, and Professor X were gathered at the bottom of the stairs, and however troubled Pietro's mind was at the moment, all of his worries were once again pushed to the back of his thoughts. Todd was holding himself steady with some sort of cane and Pietro might've laughed if it hadn't been for the serious looks on everyone's faces.

"Ah, Mr. Maximoff, so kind of you to join us," Xavier said as Pietro stood next to his sister. He managed to send a small smile and a nod in the Professor's direction as a reply.

"Todd has insisted that the memorial of Mr. Dukes be held today, and I didn't see a problem with that as long as the three of you agree," the Professor continued, addressing Lance, Pietro, and Wanda.

Pietro looked to Todd with mild surprise woven into his face, but as Todd was busy staring at the floor, Pietro could divulge little form his expression.

"Uh sure," Lance said with a shrug, "I mean, it's all right with me."

Wanda offered a small nod in agreement and everyone turned and stared at Pietro, waiting to see if he approved.

Pietro cleared his throat, "Uh yeah, that sounds fine."

"Excellent. I took the liberty to purchase proper funeral attire for the four of you, and Mr. Tolansky and I agreed that the grounds on the edge of the forest would be an ideal location."

Xavier didn't miss a beat. The three teens stared at him with baffled expressions while Toad remained as still as tone.

"When exactly are we gonna do this?" Lance asked skeptically. Pietro was relieved that he wasn't the only one who thought that all of this might be too good to be true.

"If it's not too much to ask of you, I was hoping we might hold the service in about an hour. Everything is in order and I don't see any reason to put it off."

"Ok," Wanda said quietly after a slight pause. The other two nodded and Todd would've smiled if he hadn't caught himself. Neither Wanda, Lance, nor Pietro had been close to Fred but when he died he died as a member of the Brotherhood and Pietro felt like they owed it to Todd to pay their respects to him.

"Alright," Xavier said with a smile, "The memorial will be private, extending to the four of you exclusively, but there are still a few things I need to take care of. If you'll excuse me now, you'll find what you need to get ready in your rooms."

With that Professor Xavier turned his wheelchair around and made his exit. Pietro blinked slowly before making eye contact with Wanda.

"_In an hour_?" he mouthed.

Wanda simply shrugged in response and started to go to the staircase without saying a word to anyone. Pietro pulled his eyes from her retreating form over to Lance and Toad both of whom looked about as on edge as he felt.

"So this is what you want?" Pietro asked Toad, his tone of voice delicate as if he was trying to feel out the situation.

Todd nodded, his eyes lingering on the intricate marble on which they stood. This answer did not convince Pietro of anything, but he didn't want to press Toad for answers, so he tried to figure things out in his own head. He knew that this memorial was something Toad needed to happen, but Pietro thought that holding it today seemed a bit like rushing. Having this service was going to force Toad to admit that Fred was dead and Pietro knew that Toad blamed himself for what had happened with good reason. This guilt brought on by the ceremony might bring Toad closer to turning himself in which was not something Pietro wanted to happen, for Toad's sake.

Before Pietro had a chance to voice any of these thoughts, Toad cleared his throat awkwardly and forced himself to look up at Lance and Pietro. Lance seemed to be having as much trouble as Pietro with how to handle Toad, and when Toad made the first sound, their attention snapped to him immediately.

"I'll see you guys…later," he said, offering them no insight to what was going through his mind and no explanation to why they were having the memorial so suddenly after Fred's death. As Toad was leaving, Pietro drew in a sharp intake of breath and gave Lance a look that was sure to get across his feelings.

"Yeah, I know," Lance said with a sigh, "It doesn't make sense, but what can we do, you know?"

"Yeah," Pietro said quietly.

"So," Lance started again, his face brightening, "Let's go see what the old man picked out for us."

A grin spread across Pietro's pale face, "Let's."

And with that, they ascended the staircase, leaving the foyer of the Institute completely empty.

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	29. A Symbol of Death

Okaaay, I know this has been a LONG time coming. I really do. This chapter has been sitting around in a notebook for ages, I just never found the time to sit down and type it out. Heh. Sorry. What pushed me to put this up was a review by Valoofle. Thank you so much. Hope you all enjoy this chapter, and I guaruntee there is more to come. I'm just not sure when...God I'm such a flaky author. Sorry again.

"…And that is why we will always remember Fred Dukes. Not only was he a constant companion and a loyal teammate, but his death serves us as a reminder that life is brief and it should be lived to it's full extent. May his soul rest in peace."

Pietro had kept his head low during Professor X's entire speech, but now he decided to risk looking up. True to his word, Xavier had set up a spot for the memorial at the edge of the forest where you could look out over the cliffs. There was a small headstone, yet to be marked, that was surrounded by a bed of white lilies, and Xavier sat to the side of this display looking extremely sober. Pietro didn't dare to glance over at Toad, and his gaze on the lilies grew more intense. The elegant flowers were a symbol of death, everyone knew this, but with the weight of the comlink in his pocket, Pietro was seeing them with a new light. He had found reason to put off meeting with his father so far, but he knew if he didn't go by tonight there very well could be another headstone to keep Fred's company. This one bearing the name Pietro Maximoff. Pietro shook this comforting image out of his head and vowed to slip away at the next chance he had.

Wanda let out a small sigh from her next to Pietro and he studied her out of the corner of his eye, unsure if she was sad about Fred, or just pissed that she was wearing heels. Pietro and Lance had snorted with laughter when Wanda had first emerged from her room clad in a black dress and high heels, but after one piercing glare from the Scarlet Witch and the discovery that they were to wear suits and ties they had fallen silent.

"Does anyone have any last words for Mr. Dukes?" Xavier asked.

Apparently his eulogy was over, and Pietro looked to his fellow Brotherhood members to see if any would speak out.

"I do," Toad croaked, stepping forward.

Everything fell absolutely silent. All eyes were on Toad, and Pietro was sorry to see that his fears about Toad's health had been correct. This event seemed to be taking a drastic toll on Toad's physical and mental state, and judging by the tone of his voice, he seemed to be even more unstable than before.

Xavier nodded, and bowed his head in respect as he waited fro Toad to speak.

"I have something to say," Toad started again shakily. His large yellow eyes remained on Fred's headstone and his whole disheveled body seemed to be trembling.

"I…I just wanna say that I never wanted this to happen. Any of this. Y'all gotta believe me," he pleaded, wrenching his eyes from the memorial and turning to face Wanda, Lance, and Pietro.

"You don't know, but Fred was the only one I could talk to. You guys are always busy with your own business, so him and me stuck together and now…now I don't have no one!" Toad's voice rose, and he was starting to get hysterical.

Pietro swallowed anxiously. He knew what was coming next. Even though he had tried to explain it to Toad in private, Pietro knew that his "friend" wasn't going to pass up the chance to exploit him in front of a group.

"You three always acted like you were better than us! You didn't even stick around!"

There it was. Toad was pointing a finger at Pietro, and although this had been expected, that didn't stop him from being forced to feel like a piece of shit. He didn't even feel like defending himself at the moment, so he let Toad keep going. Lance and Wanda didn't try to stop this attack either; it seemed like it was a mutual belief that Toad needed to get this out of his system.

"And here we are, pretending to be friends, and you're just pretending to care about me. I'm fucking sick of pretending!" he yelled.

Pietro winced at the intensity of Toad's speech, but did little else to show whether or not the words were affecting him.

"I'm sick of all this shit," Toad went on, but his voice was starting to crack. It looked to Pietro as if Toad was losing the internal struggle not to cry. He was taking drastic breaths through his teeth, "We've been fooling ourselves all this time cuz no one cares about us, but no one wants to admit it. We're the fuck-ups, the lost cause that no one wants to believe in. Can't you see it? Born losers, that's what we are….and I'm sick of this shit!"

Though his words were hard to follow Toad's "audience" got the general meaning. Angry tears spilled down Toad's face and he turned away from them to look at the blank headstone, and fell to his knees. Pietro's brow furrowed as he stared on with everyone else. He was positive that if anyone less jaded had been present they would have been brought to tears or tried to comfort the broken teen or even given a sign that they cared about him at all. But no, they could only stare at him like he was some sideshow carnival freak, remaining where they stood, emotionless and cold.

"I think it's best if you three go inside," Xavier said gently, wheeling over to Toad and patting him on the back.

Pietro had completely forgotten that Xavier was even present, and he swallowed hard as if there was something caught in his throat. Knowing that an outsider, someone who could only try to begin to understand what they had been through, had been sitting quietly, just observing the whole breakdown made the situation ten times more uncomfortable. Pietro would have rebelled against the Professor's order, but his need to escape greatly outweighed his need to tell Xavier that he had no right to tell them what to do.

He sharply turned on his heel, and marched back to the mansion without slowing down for Wanda and Lance. Entering through the back entrance, Pietro slammed the door shut behind him, and began searching the kitchen for a clock. He needed the time, and he needed it now. Bobby walked over to the fridge with a frown, keeping his eyes on the silver haired teen as he opened it and pulled out a carton of orange juice.

"Something I can do for you?"

Pietro whirled around, his wide eyes pasting themselves to the boy, "Time. Do you have the time?"

Bobby glanced down at his watch, "Sure, it's 5:37. Why…?"

But Pietro was already gone. He was jogging up the staircase to his room, trying to keep his mind off what he was about to do. He had put this off for too long already. Changing into a black hoodie and jeans at the fastest speed his body would permit, Pietro hurriedly moved on to fishing the comlink out of his suit, and shoved it into his back pocket. He did a once-over of the room to see if anything stood out. Nothing did, and he drew in a deep breath as he came to the realization that it was probably best to go defenseless. He lacked the time and the desire to dwell on this further, and Pietro exited the room at such a speed that he collided with someone passing through the hall on the other side of the door.

"Sorry," he muttered hastily. If he was going to leave before Lance or Wanda got to him, then he didn't have a second to spare.

"Pietro…where are you going?" Kitty asked, the agitated look slipping off her face, as she watched him descend the stairs so quickly, you would have thought he was trying to outrun the plague.

"Out," he yelled over his shoulder, practically bowling through the front doors in his haste.

The sun was just beginning to set, leaving the sky a marvelous blood-red hue, and Pietro gulped in mouthfuls of frigid air as he jogged up to the front gates. He was well-aware that Wanda would be more than pissed when she realized he was gone, but her wrath paled in comparison to that of their father's. The way Pietro figured, it was better to leave at a time when everyone was more concerned about Toad than his whereabouts.

Pressing onward through the ongoing sidewalks of the city, Pietro took sharp turns when he deemed them necessary as he tried to remember the way to the docks. He didn't use his powers at all, in case the Professor felt to locate him, however unlikely this was, and he kept his pace steady the entire journey.

By the time he reached the Acolyte base, the sun had set, and he could only go by the weak light of the street lamps for direction. All the boxes were stacked neatly in a pile next to the rusty, albeit reinforced door. This sight alone sent a current of fear down Pietro's spine. He was expected.


	30. Father's Son

Yeah. A new chapter. Who woulda thunk? Please read and review, and more will come. As a side note, I want to shamelessly plug a couple of RPG boards that I highly recommend. (What doesn't need advertising these days?)

X-Men Evolution: http://allylefey. (For some reason the link wont show up. PM me if you're interested)(Needs characters. A few of the available: Bobby Drake, Emma Frost, Beast, Mystique) Apocalypse plot in effect. I play Roberto Da Costa if you want to contact me.

X-Men Evolution-Next Generation: http://z4. (PM for link) All your favs from X-Men Evolution are all grown up. With children. Drama drama drama. Might I add that it is an OC paradise. I play Roberto Da Costa on this one too. Along with coughs a few others. Join in on the fun.

* * *

This time around, Pietro was able to navigate his way through the darkened hall and into the rec-room of the base with no difficulty at all. Instead of relieving Pietro of worry, this only made him more nervous. Colossus, Pyro, and Gambit were huddled around the large table, immersed in a hushed discussion, and all three looked up in unison when Pietro entered the room. No one said a word, and they observed him with such grave faces that Pietro was inclined to leave. Instead, he remained by the door for a moment, hands twitching at his sides, pretending that he didn't notice the air of foreboding that was almost making him physically sick. Clearing his throat, Pietro glanced around the room anxiously before actually crossing it. As he passed the table at which the three Acolytes were seated, Gambit gave a solemn nod in his direction while Colossus and Pyro stared on. No one said it, but Pietro knew exactly what they were thinking. Dead man walking. 

Drawing all the courage he could manage, from an uncharted reserve, Pietro pressed on down the hallway of steel to meet his fate, or, ironically enough, his maker. There was no doubt in his mind that Magneto was going to kill him. Or come close to it. As his feet carried him, step after step against his will, Pietro tried not to wonder how he would be punished this time. There was nothing he could do but anticipate the worst. No matter how hard he tried to find ways to escape, Magneto was not one to be ignored or disobeyed, and Pietro cursed himself for being stupid enough to think that he could slip through the cracks so easily.

Finally Pietro stood before the great door of Magneto's office. The bright, fluorescent lights reflected into his weary eyes off of the metal surface in front of him. He didn't feel the need to summon the energy it would take to announce himself. Maybe Magneto had stepped out for a bit. Maybe he had dropped dead. This bout of hopeful wishing was silenced by Magneto himself.

"Enter."

There it was. The hulking metal mass of door slid to the side. He was done. Absolutely no turning back now. Magneto knew where he was and Pietro knew he wasn't going to be able to escape until he was finished with whatever he was planning to do. Every muscle in Pietro's body tightened, and he half-expected to hear some sort of cracking sound as he re-adjusted his joints to march through the doorway. But there was no sound other than that of silent defeat.

The lights were unbelievably brighter inside the room, and Pietro felt a headache pounding away near the base of his skull as he took the familiar place in front of his father's desk. But this was worse than all those other times. The vibrant glare of the light forced everything out of hiding. There was nothing you could fear that couldn't be seen, and that made Pietro even more uncomfortable than he already was. He felt like he was inwardly choking through his throat, but he didn't open his mouth to expose the tight, heaving he was experiencing on the inside. Magneto would only enjoy that, and he wasn't going to give the satisfaction of knowing how badly he was already affecting Pietro.

Magneto sat, as usual, in his rotating chair, and Pietro could not recall a time when such a menacing look was ever directed towards him. Pietro could sense the silent anger behind the desk. The dangerous glint in the cold eyes. The clenched fists resting on the metal surface.

"S-sir," Pietro tried to stand tall, but they both knew he wasn't fooling anyone.

"Quicksilver," the word was thrown like a sharp knife through the thick, pressing air.

Pietro twitched slightly at the sound of his codename. If Magneto wasn't even going to call his son by his actual name, that meant that Pietro was not a person in his eyes. Not a living breathing individual capable of thoughts and ideas. It happened frequently whenever he was strategizing, or sending the Acolytes out on missions. He often treated his lackeys like they were machines, only meant to serve and obey his every command. Pietro wasn't a lackey. He was Magneto's son. This obviously changed nothing in Magneto's eyes.

"Why do you think you are here?"

Pietro blinked. They both knew perfectly well why Pietro was there. He was there because he hadn't been doing exactly what Magneto had asked him to do.

"Because I didn't give you all of Xavier's 'secret plans'," Pietro responded sarcastically, with a roll of his eyes.

Magneto was quiet, and Pietro could feel the inner fury radiating from his every pore. Pietro hadn't meant to answer like that, but it was his standard defense mechanism and he had forgotten himself and the position he was in for that brief second. He was tired of this. Tired of Magneto telling him he was worthless, which was bound to happen next. Tired of being his father's pawn. Sick and tired of everything. He didn't want to have to worry anymore about Magneto or what he could do. Maybe he would get lucky and Magneto had already decided to kill him. It had just occurred to him that there was no reason to care, and this was empowering. Pietro's stance was defiant, daring Magneto to do his worst.

"…You are here because you deliberately disobeyed my orders."

"Yeah. Isn't that what I just said?"

Pietro could see the conflict in Magneto's features as his brain registered what was happening. Pietro was directly challenging him, and Pietro enjoyed watching his father struggle with what to do about it.

"What has gotten into you boy? You dare to speak to me like this?" he slowly rose from his seat, hands on the desk in front of him.

Pietro pretended to think about this, "Yeah. What are you gonna do about it?"

He watched with a smirk as something exploded inside of the man facing him. His heart was beating a million times per second, and the adrenaline coursing through his sickly veins. His life was in the balance, and he was willingly setting his head on the chopping block. What did he care? What the fuck did he have to live for anymore? There wasn't a point.

The axe was in the executioner's hands now. The only thing left to do was see if he would swing it.

They stared each other down, father to son. Pietro's wide, reckless eyes filled with haughty anticipation against Magneto's narrow, enraged ones. Suddenly, Magneto threw out his hands, and the desk along with everything on it, tipped sideways and shot straight into Pietro's body, thrusting him backwards into the wall.

Pietro let out a sharp yelp, his breathing marked with short, labored gasps. A few ribs were broken under the immense weight pressing him against the wall. It took everything he had to push the desk away enough so that he could move. Pain was the only thing he could feel or think. One of the sharp objects Magneto had always prominently displayed on the desk punctured his thigh, and he winced feeling it move with him.

Magneto slowly approached him, and though his face showed nothing, Pietro could see the pleasure behind his eyes. Pietro's breathing quickened, his chest rapidly expanding and detracting as his father drew closer. So, was this the end? Pietro had gotten what he had wanted, but now that he had it, he didn't want to die like this. At the mercy of Magneto.

"Now you see," Magneto said, getting so close to his son's face so as to take in every detail of the suffering and anguish that was his doing, "Those who disobey me _always_ get what they deserve. You will serve as a lesson to anyone intending to do what you have done. You have died in vain…my son."

Pietro choked, the raspy breathing continued as he took in everything Magneto was saying. It was all so typically Magneto too. The arrogance. The superiority complex. Anger emblazoned in Pietro's eyes as he was granted a surge of strength. A slender hand curled around a pen knife on the floor, out of sight.

Pietro opened his mouth and a mirthless laugh was accompanied by a trickle of blood that streamed down the side of his cheek.

"I…am not…your fucking son."

Pietro lodged the pen knife into Magneto's exposed throat. Magneto's eyes widened, and he fell backwards from the blow. Pietro wedged his way out from behind the desk, and ignored the protests of his damaged body. He needed to get out. He pulled a pen knife stuck in his leg with one sharp pull and tossed it to the ground. Pietro hobbled to the door and out, knowing that he almost certainly was not going to make it. But he needed to try. The pain was unbelievable, but he needed to get out. He had to try.

His breathing continued at short, pressing intervals, as he weaved through the halls like a rat in a maze. Finally, he made it out. Alive. He might have passed the Acolytes at one point, but he didn't know if they had seen him. Gasping for air, he leaned against the grimy wall of the warehouse. His mind and his body were numb. Completely numb. There was no way in hell he was going to get back to the Institute. But he started walking again all the same, blood trickling from his thigh and his mouth. He felt broken, but only in the sense of his body. He himself was strong. He done it. He had stood up to Magneto, and there was a chance he would never have to deal with him again, but Pietro wasn't even going to hope.

It was in an out-of-the way alley that Pietro laid his body to rest next to a set of trashcans to sleep.

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End file.
